Aria Kane: The Red Pyramid
by Bluedragon32
Summary: Aria has returned to the House of Life to get some peace, but after the unexpected arrival of the Kane siblings, an insane training system and a tiger, She ends up in a race to save the world yet again. Meanwhile Thalia is starting to wake up can so much happen during one lifetime? Rated T just in Case.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello again guys I'm sooo sorry it took so long Iv'e been busy with school. But I might have more time now so... Enjoy!**

 _ **Chapter I**_

Aria

I coughed and sat up. I was in the middle of a room that I knew all too well. My home the House of Life.

It was exactly as I remembered it. Barren and cold.

A light groan filled the air and I glanced around carefully. I sighed content with the fact that I was alone.

I glanced around. _There!_ A slight beam of sunlight had made its way to the wall. I pulled my water bottle out of my bag and placed it in the sunlight creating a small rainbow.

I sighed and pulled out my last golden drachma.

"O- Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering." I said tossing my coin into the light. It shimmered and vanished. "Show me Annabeth Chase!"

A shimmering image appeared. Revealing Annabeth's shocked face behind her was Percy and next to Percy was-

"Tyson!" I exclaimed. "Thank the gods!"

"A- Aria!" Annabeth managed to say

"Hey guys!" I shrugged. "How'd it go?"

"Circe turned me into a guinea pig!" Percy complained.

I snorted. "She tends to do that..."

"We got the fleece though." Annabeth interrupted.

"How's your friend?"

"Grover?"

"Duh!"

"He's great! I might die if he does but he's great!"Percy said.

There was a knock on the door. I slashed though the mist without saying anything.

"Aria?" Zia asked.

"Hey!" I said giving her my two finger salute again.

She rolled her eyes.

 _She's acting strange..._ A voice inside my head told me.

I shook my head clearing my mind. "What's up?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Desjardins wants to speak with you."

I jumped at that. _Desjardins! What does he want? Probably wants to know where the heck you've been._

I nodded and followed her out of the room.

We stepped into the Market and crossed it. At the other side we entered the Hall of Ages.

Zia turned to me. "Wait here."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Perfect! Why?" She asked.

"You're acting strange." I told her.

She shook her head. "You're hopeless, just stay here while I get the other Kane's."

I jumped. "Julius's children?"

She nodded and left.

I groaned and sat down on the ground.

A few minutes later Zia entered followed by two still half asleep people. The boy had caramel skin, brown eyes, and unruly black hair. Like Percy's. The girl looked like anything but his sister. She had extremely pale skin, brilliant blue eyes and her blond hair had red streaks down the left side.

They stared in shock at the room until the girl's gaze fell on me. I felt a sudden tug of shock and recognition. The boy followed his sister's gaze and stared at me.

I grinned standing. "Let's hope we don't get turned into guinea pigs." I said. "Seeing as C.C already covered that this week."

Zia snorted at that. The siblings looked about as confused as Percy was when I asked him about Annabeth.

We started down the hall.

I saw the Kane's eyes being drawn to the images.

I was about to warn them against it when Zia beat me to it. "Come on. And down spend to much time looking."

I risked a glance at my favorite image. And I froze. Standing in Osiris's place was Julius Kane. My nemesis.

Suddenly it it me. Julius had sacrificed himself to become the god in the Hall of Judgment. I shook my head and tore myself away from the image.

The girl wasn't so lucky. She stepped off the rug in a trance and reached towards the image.

Zia grabbed her wrist. "Stay on the carpet!" She exclaimed. "You are seeing the age of the gods! It is best not to dwell on these images."

Zia glared at me. I blushed looking down at my feet.

"They're just pictures, aren't they?"

"They're memories." I told her. " Memories strong enough to destroy you."

"Oh." The girl said in a small voice.

That reminded me I was getting tired of calling her that. "What's your name?"

"Aria." Zia said. "This is Sadie and Carter Kane. They were-"

"You were at the museum!" Carter exclaimed like he had just realized it.

"Oh yeah..." Sadie said thoughtfully. "You called that evil guy Dog Breath."

Zia raised her eyebrows at me. "You called Set ,What?"

"Yes I insulted an evil god of fire." I told her rolling my eyes.

"Forget I asked." Zia said face-palming herself.

I grinned.

The conversation drifted back to the images. They were talking about the ages when I realized something.

"Zia did the Greeks ever inflict their gods upon the Egyptians?"

Zia thought for a moment. "I don't think so. Why? It's not like it's real."

I nodded. "I guess so. Just wondering."

Zia eyed me carefully. "Right."

We stopped abruptly.

Iskandar was sitting on the bottom step as always. He looked up glancing at each of us in turn until he reached Carter. Carter jumped as Iskandar's gaze passed through him. When the man looked up I saw genuine surprise in his eyes. I started to wonder what he saw in Carter.

Iskandar glanced over his shoulder and said something in Greek. I instantly understood it. _They have arrived, come forth. Welcome them to the House of Life. Or in Aria's case welcome back._

Desjardins emerged from the shadows. Carter and Sadie jumped. Desjardins glared at them.

"I am Desjardins." He told them. "My master the Chief Lector ,Iskandar, welcomes you to the House of Life."

"You missed a part." I told him smirking.

"Shut up!" He yelled outraged. "I spent days aboard _that_ vessel searching for you!"

"Wow!, wow!, wow!" Sadie interrupted. "Chill!"

I frowned at her.

Carter frowned at Iskandar. "He's very old." He noted. "Why isn't he sitting on the thrown?"

This caused Desjardin's nostrils to flare, Whilst Iskandar just chuckled.

He said something else in Greek.

"My master says, thank you for noticing that, he is in fact very old." Desjardins translated stiffly. "But the thrown is for the pharaoh of Egypt. It has been vacant since the downfall of Egypt to Rome. It is... comment dit-on? Symbolic. The Chief Lector's role is to serve and protect the pharaoh, so naturally Isakandar sit's at the foot of the thrown."

Carter looked uneasily at Iskandar. "If you...if he can understand English...what language is he speaking?"

Desjardins sniffed. "The Chief Lector understands many things. But he prefers to speak Alexandrian Greek, his birth tongue."

Sadie cleared her throat. "Sorry, his birth tongue? Wasn't Alexander the Great way back in the blue section, thousands of years ago? You make it sound like Lord Salamander is—"

"Lord Iskandar," Desjardins hissed. "Show respect!"

There was an awkward moment of silence. Iskandar turned to Desjardins and said something.

"The master says not to worry. You will not be held responsible for the past crimes of your family. At least, not until we have investigated you further."

"Gee...thanks," Carter said.

"Do not mock our generosity, boy," Desjardins warned. "Your father broke our most important law twice: once at Cleopatra's Needle, when he tried to summon the gods and your mother died assisting him. Then again at the British Museum, when your father was foolish enough to use the Rosetta Stone itself. Now your uncle too is missing—"

"You know what's happened to Amos?" Sadie blurted out.

Desjardins scowled. "Not yet," he admitted.

"You have to find him!" Sadie cried. "Don't you have some sort of GPS magic or—"

"We are searching," Desjardins said. "But you cannot worry about Amos. You must stay here. You must be...trained."

I got the impression he was going to say a different word, something not as nice as trained.

Iskandar spoke directly to Carter. His tone sounded kindly.

"The master warns that the Demon Days begin tomorrow at sunset," Desjardins translated. "You must be kept safe."

"But we have to find our dad!" Carter interrupted. "Dangerous gods are on the loose out there. We saw Serqet. And Set!"

At these names, Iskandar's expression tightened. He turned and gave Desjardins what sounded like an order. Desjardins protested. Iskandar repeated his statement. Desjardins clearly didn't like it, but he bowed to his master. Then he turned toward me. "The Chief Lector wishes to hear your story." He looked at me. "And the entirety of your's"

So they told him. When they were done, he glanced at Zia. She said nothing, but she was studying him with a troubled expression.

Iskandar traced a circle on the step with the butt of his staff. More hieroglyphs popped into the air and floated away.

After several seconds, Desjardins seemed to grow impatient. He stepped forward and glared at us. "You are lying. That could not have been Set. He would need a powerful host to remain in this world. Very powerful."

"Look, you," Sadie said. "I don't know what all this rubbish is about hosts, but I saw Set with my own eyes. You were there at the British Museum—you must have done, too. And if Carter saw him in Phoenix, Arizona, then..." She looked at Carter doubtfully. "Then he's probably not crazy."

I stepped forward. "I saw Set myself. They speak the truth of Rosetta Stone."

Desjardins narrowed his eyes.

"And as for Serqet, she's real too! Our friend, my cat, Bast, died protecting us!"

"So," Desjardins said coldly, "you admit to consorting with gods. That makes our investigation much easier. Bast is not your friend. The gods caused the downfall of Egypt. It is forbidden to call on their powers. Magicians are sworn to keep the gods from interfering in the mortal world. We must use all our power to fight them."

"Bast said you were paranoid," Sadie added.

The magician clenched his fists, and the air tingled with the weird smell of ozone, like during a thunderstorm. The hairs on my neck stood straight up.

Before anything bad could happen, Zia stepped in front of us. "Lord Desjardins," she pleaded, "there was something strange. When I ensnared the scorpion goddess, she re-formed almost instantly. I could not return her to the Duat, even with the Seven Ribbons. I could only break her hold on the host for a moment. Perhaps the rumors of other escapes—"

"What other escapes?" Carter asked. She glanced at me reluctantly.

"Other gods, many of them, released since last night from artifacts all over the world. Like a chain reaction—"

"Zia!" Desjardins snapped. "That information is not for sharing."

"Look," Carter said, "lord, sir, whatever—Bast warned us this would happen. She said Set would release more gods."

"Master," Zia pleaded, "if Ma'at is weakening, if Set is increasing chaos, perhaps that is why I could not banish Serqet."

"Ridiculous," Desjardins said. "You are skilled, Zia, but perhaps you were not skilled enough for this encounter. And as for these two, the contamination must be contained."

That's when I snapped. "You need to wake up and realize that the god's are rising!" I yelled. "Denying it will do nothing! You're as bad as the gods!"

 **That's it for me Later!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry it took so long to update. I hope you like the chapter. Enjoy!**

Annabeth

It didn't make sense. Aria had been missing for the past six months how did she not know that. We were still no closer to finding her anyway. I cursed in ancient Greek. Percy sent me a warning look from across the ping-pong table.

I came back into reality. Chiron was talking about our missing camper, Aria.

"Chiron." I interrupted. "We received an Iris- message from Aria earlier this evening."

There was an awkward moment of silence.

Chiron leaned forward. "Annabeth, please explain."

I nodded and opened my mouth.

xxx

Aria

"It's Christmas!" I stood there my mouth flapping open and closed like a fish.

Desjardins was still glaring at me from the ' _You're as bad as the gods!'_ comment but nodded stiffly.

"It took six months to get to London!" I muttered under my breath. "C.C sucks at transport!"

The Kane siblings were still staring at me. Probably wondering what was going through my head.

I shook my head clearing my thoughts and turned to Zia. "I'll meet you tomorrow at the training area."

Then I turned and fled down the Hall of Ages.

xxx

 **(Way too many character shifts but this is the last one.)**

Carter

The explosion from the museum still rung in my ears. The girl, Aria wasn't helping me understand what was going on any better. Still I wasn't sure how I felt about her leaving. It made me feel hopelessly outnumbered, I wasn't sure how but, Aria, just seemed powerful.

Then there was what she'd said. _It took six months to get to London! C.C sucks at transport!_ Then she'd muttered a curse that sounded strangely Un-Egyptian.

"Master, please. Give me a chance with them." Zia pleaded.

"You forget your place," Desjardins snapped. "These two are guilty and must be destroyed."

My throat started closing up. I looked at Sadie. If we had to make a run for it down that long hall, I didn't like our chances...

The old man finally looked up. He smiled at Zia with true affection. For a second I wondered if she were his great-great-great-granddaughter or something. He spoke in Greek, and Zia bowed deeply.

Desjardins looked ready to explode. He swept his robes away from his feet and marched behind the throne.

"The Chief Lector will allow Zia to test you," he growled. "Meanwhile, I will seek out the truth—or the lies—in your story. You will be punished for the lies."

I turned to Iskandar and copied Zia's bow. Sadie did the same.

"Thank you, master," I said.

The old man studied me for a long time. Again I felt as if he were trying to burn into my soul—not in an angry way. More out of concern. Then he mumbled something, and I understood two words: Nectanebo and ba.

He opened his hand and a flood of glowing hieroglyphs poured out, swarming around the dais. There was a blinding flash of light, and when I could see again, the dais was empty. The two men were gone.

Zia turned toward us, her expression grim. "I will show you to your quarters. In the morning, your testing begins. We will see what magic you know, and how you know it."

I wasn't sure what she meant by that, but I exchanged an uneasy look with Sadie.

"Sounds fun," Sadie ventured. "And if we fail this test?"

Zia regarded her coldly. "This is not the sort of test you fail, Sadie Kane. You pass or you die."

Zia sighed and face-palmed herself. "Come on you two you need sleep.'

As she led us down the Hall of Ages we ran into Aria muttering to herself. Something about Cyclopes, powdered doughnuts, and a cruise ship.

"Aria Andromeda Kane!" Zia interrupted.

Aria jumped. "Zia don't call me that." She complained. "Please, I've had enough of that name for one lifetime."

I was about to ask what she meant, but Sadie beat me to it.

"What in the name of Gran's awful biscuits are you going on about?"

Aria opened her mouth to respond but seemed to be cut off by a sharp pain in her head. Her eyes widened.

"Zia! I'm a Div-" She was cut off again. "Ow!"

Zia stared at her. "You're not..." She muttered. "Tell me you're not!"

Aria smiled nervously. "Err. I'm not?"

Zia stared at her in terror. "We must tell-"

She was cut off by Aria muttering something and touching her forehead.

Zia crumpled. Aria caught her and picked her up. Then smiled. "Come on I'll show you were you'll be staying tonight."

Sadie glanced at me nervously I shrugged and we started after her

...

After lights out, I tried to sleep. Honest. I even used the stupid magic headrest they gave me instead of a pillow, but it didn't help. As soon as I managed to shut my eyes, my ba decided to take a little trip.

Just like before, I felt myself floating above my body, taking on a winged form. Then the current of the Duat swept me away at blurring speed. When my vision cleared, I found myself in a dark cavern. Uncle Amos was sneaking through it, finding his way with a faint blue light that flickered on the top of his staff. I wanted to call to him, but my voice didn't work. I'm not sure how he could miss me, floating a few feet away in glowing chicken form, but apparently I was invisible to him.

He stepped forward and the ground at his feet suddenly blazed to life with a red hieroglyph. Amos cried out, but his mouth froze half open. Coils of light wrapped around his legs like vines. Soon red tendrils completely entwined him, and Amos stood petrified, his unblinking eyes staring straight ahead.

I tried to fly to him, but I was stuck in place, floating helplessly, so I could only observe.

Laughter echoed through the cavern. A horde of things emerged from the darkness—toad creatures, animal-headed demons, and even stranger monsters half hidden in the gloom. They'd been lying in ambush, I realized—waiting for Amos. In front of them appeared a fiery silhouette—Set, but his form was much clearer now, and this time it wasn't human. His body was emaciated, slimy, and black, and his head was that of a feral beast.

"Bon soir, Amos," Set said. "How nice of you to come. We're going to have so much fun!"

I sat bolt upright in bed, back in my own body, with my heart pounding.

Amos had been captured. I knew it for certain. And even worse...Set had known somehow that Amos was coming. I thought back to something Bast had said, about how the serpopards had broken in to the mansion. She'd said the defenses had been sabotaged, and only a magician of the House could've done it. A horrible suspicion started building inside me.

I stared into the dark for a long time, listening to the little kid next to me mumbling spells in his sleep. When I couldn't stand it any longer, I opened the door with a push of my mind, the way I'd done at Amos's mansion, and I sneaked out.

I was wandering through the empty marketplace, thinking about Dad and Amos, replaying the events over and over, trying to figure out what I could've done differently to save them, when I spotted Zia.

She was hurrying across the courtyard as if she were being chased, but what really caught my attention was the shimmering black cloud around her, as if someone had wrapped her in a glittery shadow. She came to a section of blank wall and waved her hand. Suddenly a doorway appeared. Zia glanced nervously behind her and ducked inside.

Of course I followed.

I moved quietly up to the doorway. I could hear Zia's voice inside, but I couldn't make out what she was saying. Then the doorway began to solidify, turning back into a wall, and I made a split-second decision. I jumped through.

Inside, Zia was alone with her back to me. She was kneeling at a stone altar, chanting something under her breath. The walls were decorated with Ancient Egyptian drawings and modern photographs.

The glittery shadow no longer surrounded Zia, but something even stranger was happening. I'd been planning to tell Zia about my nightmare, but that went completely out of my thoughts when I saw what she was doing. She cupped her palms, the way you might hold a bird, and a glowing blue sphere appeared, about the size of a golf ball. Still chanting, she raised her hands. The sphere flew up, straight through the ceiling, and vanished.

Some instinct told me this was not something I was supposed to see.

I thought about backing out of the room. Only problem: the door was gone. No other exits. It was only a matter of time before—Uh-oh.

Maybe I'd made a noise. Maybe her magical senses had kicked in. But faster than I could react, Zia pulled her wand and turned on me, flames flickering down the edge of the boomerang.

"Hi," I said nervously.

Her expression turned from anger to surprise, then back to anger. "Carter, what are you doing here?"

"Just walking around. I saw you in the courtyard, so—"

"What do you mean you saw me?"

"Well...you were running, and you had this black shimmery stuff around you, and—"

"You saw that? Impossible."

"Why? What was it?"

She dropped her wand and the fire died. "I don't appreciate being followed, Carter."

"Sorry. I thought you might be in trouble."

She started to say something, but apparently changed her mind. "In trouble...that's true enough."

She sat down heavily and sighed. In the candlelight, her amber eyes looked dark and sad.

She stared at the photos behind the altar, and I realized she was in some of them. There she was as a little girl, standing barefoot outside a mud-brick house, squinting resentfully at the camera as if she didn't want her picture taken. Next to that, a wider shot showed a whole village on the Nile—the kind of place my dad took me to sometimes, where nothing had changed much in the last two thousand years. A crowd of villagers grinned and waved at the camera as if they were celebrating, and above them little Zia rode on the shoulders of a man who must've been her father. Another photo was a family shot: Zia holding hands with her mother and father. They could've been any fellahin family anywhere in Egypt, but her dad had especially kindly, twinkling eyes—I thought he must have a good sense of humor. Her mom's face was unveiled, and she laughed as if her husband had just cracked a joke.

"Your folks look cool," I said. "Is that home?"

Zia seemed like she wanted to get angry, but she kept her emotions under control. Or maybe she just didn't have the energy. "It was my home. The village no longer exists."

I waited, not sure I dared to ask. We locked eyes, and I could tell she was deciding how much to tell me.

"My father was a farmer," she said, "but he also worked for archaeologists. In his spare time he'd scour the desert for artifacts and new sites where they might want to dig."

I nodded. What Zia described was pretty common. Egyptians have been making extra money that way for centuries.

"One night when I was eight, my father found a statue," she said. "Small but very rare: a statue of a monster, carved from red stone. It had been buried in a pit with a lot of other statues that were all smashed. But somehow this one survived. He brought it home. He didn't know...He didn't realize magicians imprison monsters and spirits inside such statues, and break them to destroy their essence. My father brought the unbroken statue into our village, and...and accidentally unleashed..."

Her voice faltered. She stared at the picture of her father smiling and holding her hand.

"Zia, I'm sorry."

She knit her eyebrows. "Iskandar found me. He and the other magicians destroyed the monster...but not in time. They found me curled in a fire pit under some reeds where my mother had hidden me. I was the only survivor."

I tried to imagine how Zia would've looked when Iskandar found her—a little girl who'd lost everything, alone in the ruins of her village. It was hard to picture her that way.

xxx

Aria

I wanted to get some rest. I had a feeling the Kanes thought I was insane. My brain had other ideas. _Pfft! Sleep! Sleep is for Mortals!_

I groaned and stood up I unbolted my door and stepped into the courtyard. Just in time to see Carter slip into a room. Then the door sealed. I sighed and grabbed a flashlight from my bag and a crystal.

I found a dark corner and decided to ask something. I tossed a drachma into the light and whispered, "Show me my father. Wherever he is."

The light shimmered and the image of Julius Kane appeared. I suddenly lost the ability to speak.

Julius turned and saw the image. A look of confusion crossed his face followed by a look of terror, then anger.

"Aria-"

I cut him off when I got the ability to use my voice. "You're my father!"

He blinked and his expression softened. "Yes." He answered softly. "Yes I am without a doubt, your father."

 **Well guys here's a longer chapter I hope it makes up for the long time it took. Later!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again guys it's me again. My house is kinda insane right now. (Ducks under shoe, then table.) At any rate Enjoy!**

Aria

The training excursion kind of failed, miserably. It started with my half sister scorching Zia's face.

I had been explaining to Carter how words of power worked. When...

 _Boom!_

I whirled around and saw Zia standing there a look of complete shock written upon her face. Despite the fact that she had just been scorched she seemed fine. I had to bite my lower lip to keep from laughing at her expression.

Sadie gasped. "Oh God. Sorry, Sorry. Do I die now?"

Zia blinked and for three terrifying heartbeats her face was expressionless.

"Now," she announced. "I think you are ready to duel."

We used another magic gateway, which Zia summoned right on the library wall. We stepped into a circle of swirling sand and popped out the other side, covered in dust and grit, in the front of some ruins. The harsh sunlight almost blinded me.

"I hate portals," Carter muttered, brushing the sand out of his hair.

Then he looked around and his eyes widened. "This is Luxor! That's, like, hundreds of miles south of Cairo."

I giggled at his frantic exploring like a kid.

Sadie sighed exasperated. "And that amazes you after teleporting from New York?"

He was too busy checking out our surroundings to answer.

"Carter-" I was interrupted by a strange shuddering in the earth. "What, was, that?" I asked.

The three stared at me.

"What was what?" Sadie asked.

"Nothing." I said quickly. 'I'll explain later."

Carter shrugged and went back to looking around, Sadie face-palmed herself and Zia started explaining something.

"Luxor is a modern name," Zia said. "This was once the city of Thebes. This temple was one of the most important in Egypt. It is the best place for us to practice."

"Because it's already destroyed?" Sadie asked.

Zia gave my half sister one of her famous scowls. "No, Sadie—because it is still full of magic. And it was sacred to your family."

"Our family?" Carter asked.

I sighed, _my family._

Zia didn't explain, as usual. She just gestured for us to follow.

"I don't like those ugly sphinxes," Sadie mumbled as we walked down the path.

"Those ugly sphinxes are creatures of law and order," Zia said, "protectors of Egypt. They are on our side."

"If you say so."

Carter nudged me as we passed the obelisk. "You know the missing one is in Paris."

Sadie rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Mr. Wikipedia. I thought they were in New York and London." For once I was actually glad we were related.

"That's a different pair," Carter said, like she was supposed to care. "The other Luxor obelisk is in Paris."

"Wish I was in Paris," she said. "Lot better than this place."

I glared at her. "This Place was once a great city. So it is a natural place of magic." Then I winced. "Geez! I sound like Annabeth."

We walked into a dusty courtyard surrounded by crumbling pillars and statues with various missing body parts. Still, I could tell the place had once been quite impressive.

"Where are the people?" Sadie asked ignoring my comment. "Middle of the day, winter holidays. Shouldn't there be loads of tourists?"

Zia made a distasteful expression. "Usually, yes. I have encouraged them to stay away for a few hours."

"How?"

"Common minds are easy to manipulate." She looked pointedly at me, and I remembered how she'd forced me to tell her who I was when we first met. Oh, yes, she was just begging for more scorched eyebrows.

"Now, to the duel." She summoned her staff and drew two circles in the sand about ten meters apart. She directed me to stand in one of them and she stood in the other.

"Let me guess, we're an example."

She gave me a ' _W_ _ell Duh!'_ look and pulled out her staff.

I had a sudden flashback of the girl with the Hydra.

I shook my head and set my bag on the ground withdrawing my staff.

I faced her and inhaled deeply. Then I tossed my staff on the ground and it transformed into a large panther. Zia stared at me, and mouthed, _A panther!_

I shrugged smiling nervously. I opened my palm and the giant cat morphed back into my staff and flew back into my hand. I ducked under her staff and cursed. My hands went to my knives. I shook my head and turned around just in time to be knocked out of the circle by Zia's snake.

I groaned sat up and rubbed my head, glaring at her.

She directed Sadie to stand in one of them and Carter in the other.

"I've got to duel him?" She asked asked.

Perhaps Carter was thinking the same thing, because he'd started to sweat. "What if we do something wrong?" he asked.

"I will oversee the duel," Zia promised. "We will start slowly. The first magician to knock the other out of his or her circle wins."

"But we haven't been trained!" Sadie protested.

"One learns by doing," Zia said. "This is not school, Sadie. You cannot learn magic by sitting at a desk and taking notes. You can only learn magic by doing magic."

"But—"

"Summon whatever power you can," Zia said. "Use whatever you have available. Begin!"

She looked at Carter doubtfully.

Carter drew his sword, though I couldn't imagine what he'd do with it. Rather hard to hit me from ten meters away.

Sadie raised her staff.

A small flame sputtered to life on the end of the staff. The fire momentarily brightened, but then my eyesight went fuzzy.

"You okay?" Carter called.

"No," She complained.

"If she knocks herself out, do I win?" he asked.

"Shut up!" Sadie said.

"Sadie, you must be careful," Zia called. "You drew from your own reserves, not from the staff. You can quickly deplete your magic."

She got shakily to her feet. "Explain?"

"A magician begins a duel full of magic, the way you might be full after a good meal—"

"Which I never got," She reminded her.

"Each time you do magic," Zia continued, "you expend energy. You can draw energy from yourself, but you must know your limits. Otherwise you could exhaust yourself, or worse."

"How much worse?"

"You could literally burn up."

Sadie gulped."But I've done magic before. Sometimes it doesn't exhaust me. Why?"

From around her neck, Zia unclasped an amulet. She threw it into the air, and with a flash it turned into a giant vulture. The massive black bird soared over the ruins. As soon as it was out of sight, Zia extended her hand and the amulet appeared in her palm.

"Magic can be drawn from many sources," she said. "It can be stored in scrolls, wands, or staffs. Amulets are especially powerful. Magic can also be drawn straight from Ma'at, using the Divine Words, but this is difficult. Or"—she locked eyes with Sadie—"it can be summoned from the gods."

"Why are you looking at me?" She demanded. "I didn't summon any gods. They just seem to find me!"

She put on her necklace but said nothing.

"Hold on," Carter said. "You claimed this place was sacred to our family."

"It was," Zia agreed.

"But wasn't this..." Carter frowned. "Didn't the pharaohs have a yearly festival here or something?"

"Indeed," she said. "The pharaoh would walk down the processional path all the way from Karnak to Luxor. He would enter the temple and become one with the gods. Sometimes, this was purely ceremonial. Sometimes, with the great pharaohs like Ramesses, here—" Zia pointed to one of the huge crumbling statues.

"They actually hosted the gods,"Sadie interrupted.

Zia narrowed her eyes. "And yet you claim to know nothing of your family's past."

"Wait a second," Carter protested. "You're saying we're related to—"

"The gods choose their hosts carefully," Zia said. "They always prefer the blood of the pharaohs. When a magician has the blood of two royal families..."

"So is Aria related to us?" Carter asked.

I glanced at Zia who nodded encouragingly. "I don't know who my parents where at all but it seems that we might be related. Onto more important things..."

Sadie shrugged. "Our parents were from different royal lines, Dad...he must've been descended from Narmer, the first pharaoh. I told you he looked like that picture!"

"That's not possible," Carter said. "That was five thousand years ago." But I could see his mind was racing. "Then the Fausts..." He turned to Zia. "Ramesses the Great built this courtyard. You're telling me our mom's family is descended from him?"

Zia sighed. "Don't tell me your parents kept this from you. Why do you think you are so dangerous to us?"

"You think we're hosting gods," Sadie said, absolutely stunned. "That's what you're worried about—just because of something our great-times-a-thousand grandparents did? That's completely daft."

I could feel my temperature rising like this information was extremely dangerous to me.

"Then prove it!" Zia said. "Duel, and show me how weak your magic is!"

"Zia!" I yelled.

She ignored me and turned her back on us like we meant nothing to her. I felt like a shard of glass had just impaled itself into my chest. I'd known Zia longer than anyone, she was like an older sister to me. A sister who just turned on me. I completely tuned out the world in shock.

Until a tiger leaped over me and charged Carter. I shrieked and drew my knives on instinct. Carter's form flickered. He rose off the ground, surrounded by a golden holographic shell, a combat avatar, his giant image was a warrior with the head of a falcon. Carter swung his sword, and the falcon warrior did likewise, slicing the lion with a shimmering blade of energy. The cat dissolved in midair, and Sadie's staff clattered to the ground, cut neatly in half.

Carter had just summoned the power of Horus.

Sadie turned defiantly to Zia. "Better?"

Zia was standing there in shock. "The Avatar... he just...he just summoned..."

Before she could finish, footsteps pounded on the stones. A young initiate raced into the courtyard, looking panicked. Tears streaked his dusty face. He said something to Zia in hurried Arabic. When Zia got his message, she sat down hard in the sand. She covered her face and began to tremble.

I ran to her. "Zia! What happened? What did he say?"

She looked at me her eyes shattered. "He- He-"

She broke down and started crying. I stumbled back and fell down on the ground. _Why?_ I asked. _Why does everything I cherish have to be taken away?!_

"Zia?" Carter said. "What's wrong?"

She took a deep breath, trying to gather her composure. When she looked up, her eyes were red. She said something to the adept, who nodded and ran back the way he'd come.

"News from the First Nome," she said shakily. "Iskandar..." Her voice broke.

"He's dead, isn't he?" Sadie asked. "That's what he meant."

"What do you mean: 'That's what he meant'?"

"Nothing. How did it happen?"

"In his sleep," Zia said. "He—he had been ailing for years, of course. But still..."

"It's okay," Carter said. "I know he was important to you."

She wiped at her tears, then rose unsteadily. "You don't understand. Desjardins is next in line. As soon as he is named Chief Lector, he will order you executed."

"But we haven't done anything!" Sadie said.

Zia's eyes flashed with anger. "You still don't realize how dangerous you are? You are hosting gods."

I wasn't processing much of this, in fact I was still in a daze when Zia hauled me up and told me I needed to get my family to safety.

"What?" I asked.

"The obelisk at the entrance, fool! You have five minutes, perhaps less, before Desjardins sends orders for your execution. Flee, and destroy Set. The Demon Days begin at sundown. All portals will stop working. You need to get as close as possible to Set before that happens."

"Hold on," Sadie said. "I meant you should come with us and help us! We can't even use an obelisk, much less destroy Set!"

"I cannot betray the House," she said. "You have four minutes now. If you can't operate the obelisk, you'll die."

I had no intention of leaving, but when Sadie grabbed my hand and pulled me along I didn't resist.

"Hurry," Carter told Sadie. He grabbed the staff-rod from his bag and threw it to her. "Since I cut yours in half. I'll stick with the sword."

"But I don't know what I'm doing!" she protested, searching the obelisk's base as if she hoped to find a secret switch.

The magician regained his balance and spit the sand out of his mouth. Then he spotted us. "Stop!"

"Yeah," I muttered. "That's gonna happen."

"Paris." Sadie turned to Carter. "You said the other obelisk is in Paris, right?"

"Right. Um, not to rush you, but..."

The magician raised his staff and started chanting.

I cursed and drew my knives. "Sadie, concentrate I'm going to try to not let you get killed."

Then the sphinxes came to life.

"Soon!" Carter warned Sadie.

"Paris!" she called, and raised her staff and wand. "I want to go there now. Two tickets. First-class would be nice!"

I grumbled about not getting anything to eat for the past six months and stabbed a sphinx. It exploded and covered me with dust. I turned and ducked under another cat. I was rammed into by it's tail and flew back into the obelisk.

Instead of slamming into the rock I fell directly into it. When I tumbled out of the portal I landed with a splash in the puddle. Sadie shrieked and landed on top of me with a thud.

"Ugh!" I exclaimed.

"Sorry."

"S-okay." I muttered.

Then I heard a roar."Great." I muttered.

Sadie got off me and ran off followed quickly by a sphinx. I got up and threw my knife. I was knocked off my feet again and landed by Carter.

The sphinx opened its mouth and formed smoky fangs that had no business on an Ancient Egyptian king. It was about to chomp his face when a dark form loomed up behind it and shouted, "Mange des muffins!"

Slice!

The sphinx dissolved into smoke.

I tried to rise but couldn't. Sadie stumbled over. "Carter! Oh god, are you okay?"

I blinked at the other person—the one who had saved Carter: a tall, thin figure in a black, hooded raincoat. What had she yelled: Eat muffins? What kind of battle cry was that?

She threw off her coat, and a woman in a leopard-skin acrobatic suit grinned down at him, showing off her fangs and her lamplike yellow eyes.

"Miss me?" asked Bast.

 **Later!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello again guys.**

Aria

We huddled in the shelter of a big white government building and watched the rain pour down on the Place de la Concorde. Well the others were huddled, I was squatting in the rain listening intently to the conversation. It was a miserable day to be in Paris. The winter skies were heavy and low, and the cold, wet air soaked right into my bones. There were no tourists, no foot traffic. Everyone with any sense was inside by a fire enjoying a hot drink.

To our right, the River Seine wound sluggishly through the city. Across the enormous plaza, the gardens of the Tuileries were shrouded in a soupy haze.

Bast was confused as to what I was doing there but decided to drop it when Carter gasped trying to get up.

"Hold still," Bast told him.

He winced as she pressed her hand against his chest. She whispered something in Egyptian, and he relaxed a little.

"Broken rib," she announced. "Better now, but you should rest for at least a few minutes."

"What about the magicians?"

"I wouldn't worry about them just yet. The House will assume you teleported somewhere else."

"Why?"

"Paris is the Fourteenth Nome—Desjardins' headquarters. You would be insane trying to hide in his home territory." I told him.

"Great." He sighed.

"And your amulets do shield you," Bast added. "I could find Sadie anywhere because of my promise to protect her. But the amulets will keep you veiled from the eyes of Set and from other magicians."

I thought about the dark room in the First Nome with all the children looking into bowls of oil. Were they looking for us right now? The thought was creepy.

Carter tried to sit up but ended up crying out.

"Stay still," Bast ordered. "Really, Carter, you should learn to fall like a cat."

"I'll work on that," He promised. "How are you even alive? Is it that 'nine lives' thing?"

"Oh, that's just a silly legend. I'm immortal."

"But the scorpions!" Sadie scrunched in closer, shivering and drawing Bast's raincoat around her shoulders. "We saw them overwhelm you!"

Bast made a purring sound. "Dear Sadie, you do care! I must say I've worked for many children of the pharaohs, but you two—" She looked genuinely touched. "Well, I'm sorry if I worried you. It's true the scorpions reduced my power to almost nothing. I held them off as long as I could. Then I had just enough energy to revert to Muffin's form and slip into the Duat."

"I thought you weren't good at portals," Carter said.

"Well, first off, Carter, there are many ways in and out of the Duat. It has many different regions and layers—the Abyss, the River of Night, the Land of the Dead, the Land of Demons—"

"Sounds lovely," Sadie muttered.

"Anyway, portals are like doors. They pass through the Duat to connect one part of the mortal world to another. And yes, I'm not good at those. But I am a creature of the Duat. If I'm on my own, slipping into the nearest layer for a quick escape is relatively easy."

"Portals." I muttered. "Great."

Bast glared at me. "What are you doing here. No magician has ever betrayed the house as much as you have in the past year."

I flinched. Bast knew about everything. That shock abruptly turned to anger. "I'm sorry I was suddenly thrust into a totally different life! I did not purposefully betray the house!" I turned away and tried to calm down.

"And if muffin had been killed?" asked Carter obviously trying to change the subject.

"That would've banished me deep into the Duat. It would've been rather like putting my feet in concrete and dropping me into the middle of the sea. It would've taken years, perhaps centuries, before I would've been strong enough to return to the mortal world. Fortunately, that didn't happen. I came back straightaway, but by the time I got to the museum, the magicians had already captured you."

"We weren't exactly captured," Carter said.

"Really, Carter? How long were you in the First Nome before they decided to kill you?"

"Um, about twenty-four hours."

Bast whistled. "They've gotten friendlier! They used to blast godlings to dust in the first few minutes."

"Please don't call them that." I muttered too low for anyone to hear.

"We're not—wait, what did you call us?"

Sadie answered, sounding as if in a trance: "'Godlings.' That's what we are, aren't we? That's why Zia was so frightened of us, why Desjardins wants to kill us."

Bast patted Sadie's knee. "You always were bright, dear."

"Yeah unlike every other magician in the world." I muttered.

Carter shook his head. "I'm still so confused. "I think I would know if I was hosting a god."

"Carter," Sadie said. "When the Rosetta Stone shattered, it let out five gods, right? Dad joined with Osiris. Amos told us that. Set...I don't know. He got away somehow. But you and I—"

"The amulets protected us." He clutched the Eye of Horus around his neck. "Dad said they would."

I started reaching for my own amulet.

"If we had stayed out of the room, as Dad told us to," Sadie recalled. "But we were there, watching. We wanted to help him. We practically asked for power, Carter."

"Wait, Julius told you to stay out of the room." I interrupted. "So why is it i'm not hosting a god and neither are Desjardins or Zia?"

Bast sniffed. "Perhaps you're not-"

"Shut it cat!"

Carter institutionally reached for his sword. Then realized he didn't have it.

"Maybe I'm not as powerful as the others but as far as I know Desjardins is the second strongest-' My voice cracked. "Was the second strongest."

The weight from the past year splashed over me like a bucket of salted ice water. I felt as if my wounds had just been doused in alcohol.

I cried out and collapsed shivering.

Sadie

Okay so maybe I didn't trust Aria but Bast seemed to despise her, and Carter still couldn't move. So when she fell unconscious i was the only one to run to her and check if she was still alive. The weirdest thing happened next she started muttering things about Cronos. (Isn't that a kind of burrito?)[ Carter's telling me I'm an idiot, the thing I'm thinking of is Carne Asade. Who cares.]

Then her temperature rose so rapidly it burned me.

I touched her forehead and suddenly an electric spark went through me.

I saw the smiling face of Zia Rashid, an unfamiliar scowl, my father in a shimmering image, me and Carter staring in terror at Set, then stranger images, a dark haired sea green eyed boy, a smiling girl with blonde hair and startling grey eyes, the deathly glare of a blonde bot with a jagged scar running up his face, the black haired by talking to a sandy haired man, and then there was the small brunette girl with hazel eyes who looked nothing like Aria.

Then I started feeling Aria's emotions. Pain, Sorrow, Loss, Loneliness and something I knew only too well, Regret.

It made me feel awful that this girl my age had hardly experienced any joy or happiness.

Then I withdrew my hand and it faded. For some reason I knew that Aria Kane was my half sister. Aria Kane was exactly like me.

 **Hey guys so Sadie found out, Bast is a little overprotective, and Carter is as arrogant as ever. It's coming along extremely well.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys. I'm back. I've been trying to update more often now.**

Aria

When I woke up Sadie was staring at me.I sat up groggily. "What happened?"

"Um." c"Well then what's the plan?" I asked standing up. Then I almost had dirt for dinner as I stumbled almost collapsing again. I shook my head and reached into my bag. _Yes! I still had some left!_ I withdrew a small canister and uncapped it, taking a swig. Instantly I felt better, I set the nectar back in my pack and zipped it up.

"We're infiltrating Desjardins house to steal a book." Sadie told me.

"Oh goodie!" I said. "I love trying to get turned into a lizard!"

I slung my backpack over my shoulder and grinned.

"Come on then." I told them.

...

Once I saw Desjardins' house, I hated him even more. It was a huge mansion on the other side of the Tuileries, on the rue des Pyramides.

"Pyramids Road?" Sadie said. "Obvious, much?"

"Maybe he couldn't find a place on Stupid Evil Magician Street," Carter suggested.

I smirked.

The house was spectacular. The spikes atop its wrought iron fence were gilded. Even in the winter rain, the front garden was bursting with flowers. Five stories of white marble walls and black-shuttered windows loomed before us, the whole thing topped off by a roof garden. I'd seen royal palaces smaller than this place.

"Yep Desjardins's household." I said my voice laced in sarcasm. "Let's bust in!"

Bast snorted.

Carter pointed to the front door, which was painted bright red. "Isn't red a bad color in Egypt? The color of Set?"

Bast scratched her chin. "Now that you mention it, yes. It's the color of chaos and destruction."

"I thought black was the evil color," Sadie said.t

"No, dear. As usual, modern folk have it backward. Black is the color of good soil, like th. soil of the Nile. You can grow food in black soil. Food is good. Therefore black is good. Red is the color of desert sand. Nothing grows in the desert. Therefore red is evil." She frowned. "It is strange that Desjardins has a red door."

"Well, I'm excited," Sadie grumbled. "Let's go knock."

"There's the spirit!" I said.

"There will be guards," Bast said. "And traps. And alarms. You can bet the house is heavily charmed to keep out gods."

"Magicians can do that?" Carter asked.

"Oh yes." I said. "Desjardins enjoy's doing it a little too much."

"Alas, yes," Bast agreed. "I will not be able to cross the threshold uninvited. You, however—"

"I thought we're gods too," Sadie said.

"That's the beauty of it," Bast said. "As hosts, you are still quite human. I have taken full possession of Muffin, so I am pretty much me—a goddess. But you are still—well, yourselves. Clear?"

"No." They said in unison.

"I suggest you turn into birds," Bast said. "You can fly to the roof garden and make your way in. Plus, I like birds."

"First problem," Carter said, "we don't know how to turn into birds."

"Easily fixed! And a good test at channeling godly power. Both Isis and Horus have bird forms. Simply imagine yourselves as birds, and birds you shall become."

"Just like that," Sadie said. "You won't pounce on us?"

Bast looked offended. "Perish the thought!"

"How's Aria going to get in?" Sadie wondered.

I smiled. "Don't worry I'll get in."

My half siblings shrugged.

"Here goes." Carter said.

"Better late than never," she said. "Took you almost ten minutes."

Sadie made a sharp chirping sound. Laughter

Carter glance up at me, clearly thinking. _Why is she my sister?_

"Oh, you two look delicious," Bast said, licking her lips. "No, no—er, I mean wonderful. Now, off you go!"

"Don't worry I'll keep your cat from eating you." I told them

Carter spread his majestic wings. He had really done it! He was a noble falcon, lord of the sky. He launched myself off the sidewalk and flew straight into the fence.

I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing.

I shook my head and launched myself over the fence. I jumped nimbly onto the balcony and jumped higher onto the wall. I slung myself over the top balcony and entered the room.

Carter and Sadie followed soon after.

We were alone in the middle of a library. So far, so good.

Carter perched on the table and changed back. Sadie however was still very much a kite.

"You can turn back now," Carter told her.

She tilted her head and regarded him quizzically. She let out a frustrated croak.

He cracked a smile. "You can't, can you? You're stuck?"

She pecked his hand with her extremely sharp beak.

"Ow!" I complained. "It's not my fault. Keep trying."

She closed her eyes and ruffled her feathers until she looked like she was going to explode, but she stayed a kite.

"Don't worry," I said, trying to keep a straight face. "Bast will help once we get out of here."

"Ha—ha—ha."

"Aria help me look." Carter said. "Sadie, keep trying."

The room was huge—more like a traditional library than a magician's lair. The furniture was dark mahogany. Every wall was covered with floor-to-ceiling bookcases. Books overflowed onto the floor. Some were stacked on tables or stuffed into smaller shelves. A big easy chair by the window looked like the kind of place Sherlock Holmes would sit smoking a pipe.

Every step I took, the floorboards creaked, which made me wince. I couldn't hear anyone else in the house, but I didn't want to take any chances.

Aside from the glass doors to the rooftop, the only other exit was a solid wooden door that locked from the inside. I turned the deadbolt. Then I wedged a chair up under the handle. I doubted that would keep magicians out for very long, but it might buy me a few seconds if things went bad.

We searched the bookshelves for what seemed like ages. All different types of books were jammed together—nothing alphabetized, nothing numbered. Most of the titles weren't in English. None were in hieroglyphics. I was hoping for something with big gold lettering that said The Book of Thoth, but no such luck.

"What would a Book of Thoth even look like?" Carter wondered.

Carter slung his dad's bag off my shoulder. He set his magic box on the table and slid open the top. There was little wax figure. He picked him up and said, "Doughboy, help me find The Book of Thoth in this library."

His waxy eyes opened immediately. "And why should I help you?"

I shrieked

"Because you have no choice." Carter told his shabti glaring at me.

"I hate that argument! Fine—hold me up. I can't see the shelves."

I shook my head and kept looking.

"Hold it!" Doughboy announced. "This one is ancient—right here."

I pulled down a thin volume bound in linen. It was so tiny, I would've missed it, but sure enough, the front cover was inscribed in hieroglyphics. I brought it over to the table and carefully opened it. It was more like a map than a book, unfolding into four parts until I was looking at a wide, long papyrus scroll with writing so old I could barely make out the characters.

Carter glanced at Sadie. "I bet you could read this if you weren't a bird."

She tried to peck him again, but he moved his hand.

"Doughboy," Carter said. "What is this scroll?"

"A spell lost in time!" he pronounced. "Ancient words of tremendous power!"

"Well?" I demanded. "Does it tell how to defeat Set?"

"Better! The title reads: The Book of Summoning Fruit Bats!"

Carter stared at him. "Are you serious?"

"Would I joke about such a thing?"

"Who would want to summon fruit bats?"

"Ha—ha—ha," Sadie croaked.

I pushed the scroll away and we went back to searching.

After about ten minutes, Doughboy squealed with delight. "Oh, look! I remember this painting."

It was a small oil portrait in a gilded frame, hanging on the end of a bookshelf. It must've been important, because it was bordered by little silk curtains. A light shone upon the portrait dude's face so he seemed about to tell a ghost story.

"Isn't that the guy who plays Wolverine?" Carter asked.

"You disgust me!" Doughboy said. "That is Jean-François Champollion."

Carter hesitated. "The guy who deciphered hieroglyphics from the Rosetta Stone."

"Of course. Desjardins' great uncle."

"Great uncle? But wouldn't that make Desjardins—"

"About two hundred years old," Doughboy confirmed. "Still a youngster. You know that when Champollion first deciphered hieroglyphics, he fell into a coma for five days? He became the first man outside the House of Life to ever unleash their magic, and it almost killed him. Naturally, that got the attention of the First Nome. Champollion died before he could join the House of Life, but the Chief Lector accepted his descendants for training. Desjardins is very proud of his family...but a little sensitive too, because he's such a newcomer."

"That's why he didn't get along with our family," Carter guessed. "We're like...ancient."

Doughboy cackled. "And your father breaking the Rosetta Stone? Desjardins would've viewed that as an insult to his family honor! Oh, you should've seen the arguments Master Julius and Desjardins had in this room."

"You've been here before?"

"Many times! I've been everywhere. I'm all-knowing."

I heard a door slam downstairs and froze.

"Show me where The Book of Thoth is," Carter ordered Doughboy. "Quick!"

"Ah, Mastery of the Five Elements!"

"Is that the one we want?" I asked.

"No, but a good one. How to tame the five essential elements of the universe—earth, air, water, fire, and cheese!"

"Cheese?"

He scratched his wax head. "I'm pretty sure that's the fifth, yes. But moving right along!"

We turned to the next shelf. "No," he announced. "No. Boring. Boring. Oh, Clive Cussler! No. No."

"Shut up and look!" I told him.

"There."

We froze. "Where—here?"

"The blue book with the gold trim," he said. "The one that's—"

Carter pulled it out, and the entire room began to shake.

"—trapped," Doughboy continued.

Sadie squawked urgently. I turned and saw her take flight. Something small and black swooped down from the ceiling. Sadie clashed with it in midair, and the black thing disappeared down her throat.

Before I could even register how gross that was, alarms blared downstairs. More black forms dropped from the ceiling and seemed to multiply in the air, swirling into a funnel cloud of fur and wings.

"There's your answer," Doughboy told me. "Desjardins would want to summon fruit bats. You mess with the wrong books, you trigger a plague of fruit bats. That's the trap!"

 **They escape next chapter! I'm soo excited!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys I'm back!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Hobbit. I really have no clue who it actually belongs to, but not me.**

Aria

The first thing that came to mind was a giant fruit bat swooping down and destroying the evil armies in the hobbit. Then it changed to, _We're going to die by the hand of a fruit bat._ I leaped out the window and hit the ground running.

"Ha-di!" I yelled pointing at the gate. It exploded and I ducked under a rather large piece of metal.

I heard a grunt and looked back to see a magician fall to the ground in a heap.

"Exit strategy, quick!" I heard Carter yell.

"The Louvre." Bast grabbed their hands. "It's got the closest portal."

Three blocks away. We'd never make it.

"Sadie," Bast called as we ran. "You'll have only seconds to open the portal."

"Where is it?" She yelled.

We dashed across the rue de Rivoli into a wide plaza surrounded by the wings of the Louvre. Bast made straight for the glass pyramid at the entrance, glowing in the dusk.

"You can't be serious," Sadie said. "That isn't a real pyramid."

"Of course it's real," Bast said. "The shape gives a pyramid its power. It is a ramp to the heavens."

The bats were all around us now—biting our arms, flying around our feet. As their numbers increased, it got harder to see or move.

I gritted my teeth and drew my knives. I knew their metal would attract Bast's attention, but I didn't care. I had a little sister to protect.

Carter reached for his sword, then apparently remembered it wasn't there anymore. He'd lost it at Luxor. He swore and rummaged around in his workbag.

"Don't slow down!" Bast warned.

Carter pulled out his wand. In total frustration, he threw it at a bat. I thought this a pointless gesture, but the wand glowed white-hot and thumped the bat solidly on the head, knocking it out of the air. The wand ricocheted through the swarm, thumping six, seven, eight of the little monsters before returning to Carter's hand.

"Not bad," Sadie said. "Keep it up!"

We arrived at the base of the pyramid. The plaza was thankfully empty. The last thing I wanted was my embarrassing death by fruit bats posted on YouTube.

"Sadie!" I yelled slicing a row of bats out of the air. "Any time now!"

"Shut it!" She yelled back.

I grinned.

"One minute until sundown," Bast warned. "Our last chance for summoning is now."

She unsheathed her knives and started slicing bats out of the air, trying to keep them away from me. Carter's wand flew wildly, knocking fruit bats every which way.

I sighed noting how much he looked like his father.

 _Your father_ Kronos's voice pointed out inside my head.

I yelled in frustration and turned that into energy for battle.

 _You have to face the truth._ He told me.

"Shut up!" I yelled. "I'm not your sister! Go back to being dead!"

I knew Carter and Sadie would interrogate me about this later anyway but better not give them any more leverage.

 _I would rather not return to that place._

 _If you don't shut up I'm going to personally send you back to Tartarus!_

 _I'll go away for now._

I heard a sudden crack of thunder and looked up to see a portal open at the top of the pyramid.

"You're kidding me." I muttered.

"Climb!" Bast said. Easy for her—she was a cat.

"The side is too steep!" Carter objected.

He was right. There was no way they'd get there in time.

"I'll toss you," Bast said.

"Excuse me?" Carter protested, but she picked him up by his collar and pants and tossed him up the side of the pyramid. He skittered to the top in a very undignified manner and slipped straight through the portal.

"Now you, Sadie," Bast said. "Come on!"

Sadie took a step towards her.

"Stop!"

Sadie froze.

"Sadie, don't listen," Bast warned. "Come here."

"The cat goddess deceives you," the magician said. "She abandoned her post. She endangered us all. She will lead you to ruin."

I could tell he meant it. He was absolutely convinced of what he said.

"What does he mean?" Sadie asked. "What did you do wrong?"

"We have to leave," Bast warned. "Or they will kill us."

Sadie looked at the portal. "Toss me."

Bast grabbed her. "See you in America."

The magician roared. "Surrender!"

I could see what he would do to Bast if he got a hold of her. I couldn't let that happen.

"Bast!" I yelled.

She looked at me, I could see fear in her eyes. She was afraid to face her past, she didn't need that.

"Get them to Phoenix!" I told her. "Keep your promise!"

Bast looked at me with a new emotion, on I knew all too well, Guilt.

Then she took off up the side of the pyramid.

The magician started after her, before I pulled out my twine.

"Tas!"

It whipped towards him with extreme speed. He fell to the ground in a heap bound in rope.

The other magician started after me and I knew I was going to die if I didn't do something.

I gathered my energy and focused all my emotions into my next spell, my hate, my fear, my anger, my pride, and my hope.

"Ha-Di!"

The pyramid exploded, sending me flying back into a wall. I tried to get up but I was exhausted and then the pain struck my.

I felt like a knife was being shoved into my gut.

The last thing I remember was the two magicians approaching me.

"What happened?" One asked.

"The fool." The other said. "She drew from her own reserves."

Then I fell unconscious.

 **So Tada! I have been trying to update more often. I'm also really sorry for those of you reading the one about Kia, I just can't come up with any more ideas. Well that's it bye guys!**


	7. Chapter 7

Hey **guys I kinda left you on a cliffhanger didn't I? Well you might have to wait a little longer. Here's over to Luke!**

 **Sadie: You're an idiot.**

 **Me: No I'm not!**

 **Aria: Hey guys am I dead?**

 **Me: Uhhhhhh**

 **Enjoy!**

Luke

 _Aria,_ I thought, _What are you?_

Kronos interrupted my thoughts. _I have told you, She is a half-Titan. My half sister._

 _How?_ I asked.

 _Enough questions! Luke you have more important things to do. The great stirring is approaching._

I closed my eyes. _Yes sir._

 _xxx_

Aria

I woke up with a killer headache. I sat up and took in my surroundings. I was in a beautiful large room with marble tiles, walls that looked like pure crystal and ancient spells and phrases lined the walls.

I stood slowly, trying to remember what happened. It came back in a flash. Bast running up the steep incline, my spell, the explosion, and the magicians. I looked around and inspected my surroundings further, that was when i noticed the double oak doors leading out of the room. I walked toward them cautiously,as if they might explode. When I touched them nothing happened, so I pushed it open.

I stepped into a circular room with pillars surrounding it, twelve thrones of various shapes and sizes stood in a U. The thrones were all occupied and standing in front of them was,

"Percy?"

He turned, along with twelve, wait thirteen gods who probably wanted me dead on the spot.

"Aria!" He exclaimed.

I laughed.

"You look like a horse hoof just slapped you across the face." I told him.

He blushed and then he noticed my clothes. He raised his eyebrows. "Where have you been? A volcano?"

I smiled nervously. "No. Not yet."

Then I turned and addressed the gods. "I apologize for the interruption. My name is Aria Kane."

xxx

Sadie

I woke in a small room with industrial carpeting, gray walls, and metal-framed windows. I felt as if I were inside a high-tech refrigerator. I sat up groggily and discovered I was coated in cold, wet sand.

"Ugh," I said. "Where are we?"

Carter and Bast stood by the window. Apparently they'd been conscious for a while, because they'd both brushed themselves off.

"You've got to see this view," Carter said.

I got shakily to my feet and nearly fell down again when I saw how high we were.

An entire city spread out below us—I mean far below, well over a hundred meters. I could almost believe we were still in Paris, because a river curved off to our left, and the land was mostly flat. There were white government buildings clustered around networks of parks and circular roads, all spread out under a winter sky. But the light was wrong. It was still afternoon here, so we must've traveled west. And as my eyes made their way to the other end of a long rectangular green space, I found myself staring at a mansion that looked oddly familiar.

"Is that...the White House?"

Carter nodded. "You got us to America, all right. Washington, D.C."

"But we're sky high!"

Bast chuckled. "You didn't specify any particular American city, did you?"

"Well...no."

"So you got the default portal for the U.S.—the largest single source of Egyptian power in North America."

I stared at her uncomprehendingly.

"The biggest obelisk ever constructed," she said. "The Washington Monument."

I had another moment of vertigo and moved away from the window. Carter grabbed my shoulder and helped me sit down.

"You should rest," he said. "You passed out for...how long, Bast?"

"Two hours and thirty-two minutes," she said. "I'm sorry, Sadie. Opening more than one portal a day is extremely taxing, even with Isis helping."

Carter frowned. "But we need her to do it again, right? It's not sunset here yet. We can still use portals. Let's open one and get to Arizona. That's where Set is."

Bast pursed her lips. "Sadie can't summon another portal. It would overextend her powers. I don't have the talent. And you, Carter...well, your abilities lie elsewhere. No offense."

"Oh, no," he grumbled. "I'm sure you'll call me next time you need to boomerang some fruit bats."

"Besides," Bast said, "when a portal is used, it needs time to cool down. No one will be able to use the Washington Monument—"

"For another twelve hours." Carter cursed. "I forgot about that."

Bast nodded. "And by then, the Demon Days will have begun."

"So we need another way to Arizona," Carter said.  


"Aria could help us." Bast muttered to herself.

I stared at her. "I thought you didn't trust her."

Bast met my eyes. "I didn't."

"Where is Aria anyway?" I asked looking around.

Carter and Bast exchanged glances.

"Look Sadie." Carter said. "It's not your fault. Aria stayed to save Bast. She's probably-"

His voice cracked.

I blinked. Not wanting to believe it. "No." I said. "She can't be- Aria's not-"

"Dead." Bast said. "I'm sorry Sadie. She drew from her own reserves and blew up the pyramid. To make sure we got to safety."

I stared blankly into space without comprehension of any of my surroundings. I had found a sister and lost her in an hour.

xxx

Aria

I stood in front of the gods as they decided if they wanted to incinerate me or not.

"Look." I said. "As I would love to stay and get incinerated, I have to help my family."

Zeus glared at me probably wondering if he could get away with blasting me to smithereens.

I returned his gaze, but not as harshly. Just a little warning.

Zeus scowled at me once more then lowered his bolt. "Whatever."

I sighed and allowed myself to be transported to wherever Sadie was.

...

I tumbled out of space and right into a lion creature. I yelped, The Set Animal. It didn't seem to notice me yet but I was obviously just stuck on it until it stopped. Trust the gods to get me the most dangerous ride ever.

We stampeded into an airport. I yelped and ducked under a sign leading to the restaurants. The Set Animal snarled and charged through security. An old lady screamed.

"Moose!" a lady screamed. "Rabid moose!"

Everyone started screaming, running in different directions and blocking the Set animal's path.

I sighed and jumped off then started taunting the monster. I wasn't paying attention to what I was saying until I realized I was focusing all my anger into my words.

"So you think you're dangerous!" I yelled. "I've met bears stronger than you!"

The Set Animal lunged making me roll out of the way.

"Aria?"

I looked up and noticed Carter's black hair.

"Hey." I said standing up.

"Aria, You need tickets."

I snorted. "Don't worry I'll meet you in Memphis."

Carter looked at me strangely.

Then his expression changed. "Aria, look out!"

I was thrown against the wall with enough force to stop a truck. Then I groaned and got up unsteadily.

The I froze at the familiar face in the crowd.

 _Luke._

"Carter!" I yelled. "Get to your flight as soon as you can!"

Then I took off.

 **Well there it is. I really like how this is coming. Later you guys.**

 **Aria: Yay! I'm not dead!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello again guys. I got the greatest idea from PollyLittle, She is awesome by all means.**

 **Oh I do not own most of the stuff in here. All rights go to Rick Riordan.**

 **Aria: I don't want to talk to Luke!**

 **Me: Yeah he's an idiot.**

 **Luke: Hey!**

 **Me/Aria: It's true!**

 **Luke: Aria! Amber!**

 **Me/Aria: (Run out of room pursued by insane Luke)**

 **Anyway Enjoy!**

 **...**

Aria

I ducked under someone's arm and accidentally knocked something out of their arms.

"Sorry!" I yelled over my shoulder.

"Aria!" Luke called after me. "You're Kronos's sister?!"

I almost tripped in shock. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

He grabbed my wrist. "Yes you do. He is isn't he?"

I gritted my teeth and nodded.

Kronos's voice strengthened. "Finally."

"Shut it!" I told the titan.

I could feel his shock ripple across the world.

Luke stared at me.

I heard kronos mutter something rather rude about me.

"Kronos!" I exclaimed. "Watch your language!"

Both the males were speechless.

I grinned as an idea formed in my head. **(Actually it formed in PollyLittle's head)** "Kronos." I said sternly. "You need to reverse your behavior, before I have to go down there and beat you over the head with a stick."

I probably looked totally insane talking to thing air between Luke's and my own arms. To most people that's what I looked like. But to me I could just make out the silhouette of my titan half brother.

That's when I met her.

xxx

Carter

I seriously doubted Aria was going to meet us in Memphis, considering we were leaving when I realized this.

As far as rides to Land of Death go, the boat was pretty cool. It had multiple decks with ornate railings painted black and green. The side paddlewheels churned the river into froth, and along the paddlewheel housings the name of the boat glittered in gold letters: Egyptian Queen.

At first glance, you'd think the boat was just a tourist attraction: one of those floating casinos or cruise boats for old people. But if you looked closer you started noticing strange little details. The boat's name was written in Demotic and in hieroglyphics underneath the English. Sparkly smoke billowed from the stacks as if the engines were burning gold. Orbs of multicolored fire flitted around the decks. And on the prow of the ship, two painted eyes moved and blinked, scanning the river for trouble.

"That's odd," Sadie remarked.

I nodded. "I've seen eyes painted on boats before. They still do that all over the Mediterranean. But usually they don't move."

"What?" Sadie asked. Then she understood. "No, not the stupid eyes. That lady on the highest deck. Isn't that..." she broke into a grin. "Bast!"

She was right, unfortunately, up on the top deck Bast smiled leaning against the window of the pilot's house. I was about to wave when I noticed the demon standing next to her. He looked normal enough until you reached his head, it was a full out battle axe.

The ship pulled up to the dock. Balls of fire began zipping around—lowering the gangplank, tying off ropes, and basically doing crew-type stuff. How they did it without hands, and without setting everything on fire, I don't know, but it wasn't the strangest thing I'd seen that week.

Bast climbed down from the wheelhouse. She hugged us as we came aboard—even Khufu, who tried to return the favor by grooming her for lice.

"I'm glad you survived!" Bast told us. "What happened?"

We gave her the basic idea and her hair puffed out again. "Elvis? Gah! Thoth is getting cruel in his old age." She hissed. "Well, I can't say I'm glad to be on this boat again. I hate the water, but I suppose—"

"You've been on this boat before?" I asked.

Bast's smile wavered. "A million questions as usual, but let's eat first. The captain is waiting."

I was seriously starting to wonder if anyone even slightly related to us was sane. But I followed her below decks.

...

The dining room was decorated like an Egyptian palace.

A long dining table was laden with every kind of food you could want—sandwiches, pizzas, hamburgers, Mexican food, you name it. It way made up for missing Thoth's barbecue. On a side table stood an ice chest, a line of golden goblets, and a soda dispenser with about twenty different choices. The mahogany chairs were carved to look like baboons, which reminded me a little too much of Graceland's Jungle Room, but Khufu thought they were okay. He barked at his chair just to show it who was top monkey, then sat on its lap. He picked an avocado from a basket of fruit and started peeling it.

I wondered what Aria would think of it. My stomach clenched. Aria, she had run off and told me to get to my flight. Then a blonde dude with a jagged scar across his face had raced after her. I shook my head telling myself that she'd be fine. I didn't convince myself.

The door opened and I jumped out of my skin. The demon bowed deeply as he entered the room.

"Lord and Lady Kane," the captain said, bowing. His voice was a quivery hum that resonated along his front blade. I saw a video one time of a guy playing music by hitting a saw with a hammer, and that's sort of the way the captain sounded. "It is an honor to have you aboard."

"'Lady Kane,'" Sadie mused. "I like that."

"I am Bloodstained Blade," the captain said. "What are your orders?"

Sadie raised an eyebrow at Bast. "He takes orders from us?"

"Within reason," Bast said. "He is bound to your family. Your father..." She cleared her throat. "Well, he and your mother summoned this boat."

The axe demon made a disapproving hum. "You haven't told them, goddess?"

Bast sighed. "I'm getting to it."

...

 **Time skip I'm bored.**

Sadie

Bast, Carter, and I stood at the prow of the boat, watching the river appear out of the darkness. Below us, the boat's painted eyes glowed faintly in the dark, sweeping beams of light across the red water. Khufu had climbed to the top of the gangplank, which stood straight up when retracted, and cupped his hand over his eyes like a sailor in a crow's-nest.

But all that vigilance didn't do much good. With the dark and the mist, our visibility was nil. Massive rocks, broken pillars, and crumbling statues of pharaohs loomed out of nowhere, and Bloodstained Blade yanked the wheel to avoid them, forcing us to grab hold of the rails. Occasionally we'd see long slimy lines cutting through the surface of the water, like tentacles, or the backs of submerged creatures—I really didn't want to know.

"Mortal souls are always challenged," Bast told me. "You must prove your worth to enter the Land of the Dead."

"Like it's such a big treat?"

I'm not sure how long I stared into the darkness, but after a good while a reddish smudge appeared in the distance, as if the sky were becoming lighter.

"Is that my imagination, or—"

"Our destination," Bast said. "Strange, we really should've been challenged by now—"

The boat shuddered, and the water began to boil.

"Why did you have to say something?" Carter grumbled.

A giant figure erupted from the river. I could see him only from the waist up, but he towered several meters over the boat. His body was humanoid—bare-chested and hairy with purplish skin. A rope belt was tied around his waist, festooned with leather pouches, severed demon heads, and other charming bits and bobs. His head was a strange combination of lion and human, with gold eyes and a black mane done in dreadlocks. His blood-splattered mouth was feline, with bristly whiskers and razor-sharp fangs. He roared, scaring Khufu right off the gangplank. The poor baboon did a flying leap into Carter's arms, which knocked them both to the deck.

"You had to say something," I told Bast weakly. "This a relative of yours, I hope?"

Bast shook her head. "I cannot help you with this, Sadie. You are the mortals. You must deal with the challenge."

"Oh, thanks for that."

"I am Shezmu!" the bloody lion man said.

I wanted to say, "Yes, you certainly are." But I decided to keep my mouth shut.

He turned his golden eyes on Carter and tilted his head. His nostrils quivered. "I smell the blood of pharaohs. A tasty treat...or do you dare to name me?"

"N-name you?" Carter sputtered. "Do you mean your secret name?"

The demon laughed. He grabbed a nearby spire of rock, which crumpled like old plaster in his fist.

I looked desperately at Carter. "You don't happen to have his secret name lying around somewhere?"

"It may be in The Book of the Dead," Carter said. "I forgot to check."

Shezmu growled. "You dare ignore m-"

He as interrupted by a shriek as a familiar brown haired girl fell from the sky and landed on the deck.

I turned back to Carter. "Look!"

"Keep him busy!" Carter yelled and scrambled off.

"Great." I muttered.

"Do you give up?" Shezmu bellowed.

"No!" I yelled. "No, we don't give up. We will name you. Just...Gosh, you're quite well muscled, aren't you? Do you work out?"

I glanced at Bast, who nodded approval.

Shezmu rumbled with pride and flexed his mighty arms. Never fails with men, does it? Even if they're twenty meters tall and lion-headed.

"I am Shezmu!" he bellowed.

"Yes, you might've mentioned that already," I said. "I'm wondering, um, what sort of titles you've earned over the years, eh? Lord of this and that?"

"Blood and Wine." A heard a voice behind me mutter.

I ignored Aria and turned back to the god.

"I am Osiris's royal executioner!" he yelled, smashing a fist into the water and rocking our boat. I heard a thump and a groan as Aria was thrown back into the pilots house. "I am the Lord of Blood and Wine!"

"Brilliant," I said, trying not to get sick. "Er, how are blood and wine connected, exactly?"

"Garrr!" He leaned forward and bared his fangs, which were not any prettier up close. His mane was matted with nasty bits of dead fish and river moss. "Lord Osiris lets me behead the wicked! I crush them in my wine press, and make wine for the dead!"

I grinned nervously making a mental note to never drink the wine of the dead.

 _You're doing well._ Isis's voice gave me a start. She'd been quiet so long, I'd almost forgotten her. _Ask him about his other duties._

"And what are your other duties...O powerful wine demon guy?"

"I am Lord of..." He flexed his muscles for maximum effect. "Perfume!"

He grinned at me, apparently waiting for terror to set it.

""Oh, my!" I said. "That must make your enemies tremble."

"Ha, ha, ha! Yes! Would you like to try a free sample?" He ripped a slimy leather pouch off his belt, and brought out a clay pot filled with sweet-smelling yellow powder. "I call this...Eternity!"

"Lovely," I gagged. I glanced behind me, wondering where Carter had gone to, but there was no sign of him.

Keep him talking, Isis urged.

"And, um...perfume is part of your job because...wait, I've got it, you squeeze it out of plants, like you squeeze wine..."

"Or blood!" Shezmu added.

"Well, naturally," I said. "The blood goes without saying."

"Blood!" he said.

Khufu yelped and covered his eyes.

"So you serve Osiris?" I asked the demon.

"Yes! At least..." He hesitated, snarling in doubt. "I did. Osiris's throne is empty. But he will return. He will!"

"Of course," I said. "And so your friends call you what...Shezzy? Bloodsiekins?"

"I have no friends! But if I did, they would call me Slaughterer of Souls, Fierce of Face! But I don't have any friends, so my name is not in danger. Ha, ha, ha!"

I looked at Bast, wondering if I'd just gotten as lucky as I thought. Bast beamed at me.

Carter came stumbling down the stairs, holding The Book of the Dead. "I've got it! Somewhere here. Can't read this part, but—"

"Name me or be eaten!" Shezmu bellowed.

"I name you!" I shouted back. "Shezmu, Slaughterer of Souls, Fierce of Face!"

"GAAAAHHHHH!" He writhed in pain. "How do they always know?"

"Let us pass!" I commanded. "Oh, and one more thing...my brother wants a free sample."

I just had time to step away, and Carter just had time to look confused before the demon blew yellow dust all over him. Then Shezmu sank under the waves.

"What a nice fellow," I said.

"Pah!" Carter spit perfume. He looked like a piece of breaded fish. "What was that for?"

"You smell lovely," I assured him. "What's next, then?"

I was feeling very pleased with myself until our boat rounded a bend in the river. Suddenly the reddish glow on the horizon became a blaze of light. Up in the wheelhouse, the captain rang the alarm bell.

Aria

 _I was lying at the mouth of some kind of cavern. Floating above a massive pit was a man glowing with power._

 _"Well." He snarled. "It seems you've finally realized who you are, sister." He spat the last word angrily._

 _I managed to stumble to my feet. "Kronos?"_

 _He snarled. "No! I'm your long lost sister Aerodrome."_

 _I groaned. "Any particular reason I'm here?"_

 _"I felt you should have a fair warning. You're about to die." He said. "Within the hour."_

 _"Great." I said my voice laced with sarcasm._

 _Kronos laughed coldly. "We could save you. If you fought with us."_

 _My guilt rapidly turned to anger. "Why! I have absolutely nothing to offer, all I can seem to do is wreck my life even more!"_

 _He laughed again but this time it was strangely understanding, like he knew how I felt. "You honestly don't know how powerful you are. Do you?"_

 _"Shut up!" I yelled and willed myself to wake up._

 _..._

I gasped and woke up. I looked up and saw the smiling face of Bast.

"You never cease to surprise me." She muttered helping me up.

I shook my head. "Welcome to the club."

Sadie sighed. "You're alive."

I smirked. "I noticed."

She smiled and hugged me.

I smiled sadly. "Sadie. I'm probably going to die really soon. I'm sorry."

She blinked. "What?"

I smiled then started laughing. "I'll be fine."

 _I had to save my family, keep the world alive, and somehow get back to camp half blood before Grover called, on top of all that I was going to die within the next hour. I just love my life._

 **That's it about 2000 words, I feel pretty good. Aria is going to die huh?**

 **Aria: Why can't I stop dying!**

 **Me: I don't know! Ask Kronos!**

 **Kronos: No Way!**

 **Aria: Give me my necklace Amber!**

 **Me: HaHa!**

 **Me:(Runs out of room before pillow hits head.)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys I'm back. Is Aria is going to die today? Oh and Aria is a daughter of Gaea for people who didn't get that.**

 **Aria: (Silence with angry glare)**

 **Me: Oh chill!**

 **Luke: I don't kill her!**

 **Me: No duh!**

Aria

I was getting tired of landing in the middle of strange conversations. Let's back up, shall we? Before I fell out of thin air and landed in the middle of Shezmu's appearance, the gods sent me on a little side trip to Camp Half Blood.

I tumbled out of the air and onto the thankfully empty ping pong table. The chairs at the table were unfortunately occupied. I landed on the table with a thud and sat up to meet eleven sets of confused eyes.

I stood up rubbing my head. "Okay. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure this isn't Memphis."

They shook their heads.

I nodded. "Great. I think I'm on the opposite side of the country."

They nodded.

"Aria?"

I turned at the familiar voice. "Percy!"

"So I guess I'm not dreaming then."

I blushed furiously and started thinking, why would the gods send me here.

I turned to Percy again. "Is anything major happening?"

Kronos laughed inside my head. _No I'm just about to kill all of you._

 _You're always about to kill us all._ I pointed out.

 _You're right._

 _Shut up._

Percy was still standing there. "Well Kronos-"

"Is about to kill all of us." I interrupted. "I'm always about to die before the world ends."

Percy looked extremely confused.

"Nothing." I said with dismissively. "Where's Dionysus?"

"I'm right here." The god said over his magazine.

Everyone else was just staring at me. "What!" I asked.

"Percy is at his mom's house." Annabeth told me. "How are you talking to him?"

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "So I am insane! Great!"

 _No you're just a Diviner._ A voice said inside my head.

...

Fast forward to Land of Dead.

As we docked at the island, Bloodstained Blade came down to say good-bye.

"I hope to see you again, Lord and Lady Kane," he hummed. "Your rooms will be waiting aboard the Egyptian Queen. Unless, of course, you see fit to release me from service."

Behind his back, Bast shook her head adamantly.

"Um, we'll keep you around," Sadie told the captain. "Thanks for everything."

"As you wish," the captain said. If axes could frown, I'm sure he would have.

"Stay sharp," Carter told him, and with Bast and Khufu, we walked down the gangplank. Instead of pulling away, the ship simply sank into the boiling lava and disappeared.

Sadie scowled at Carter. "'Stay sharp?'"

"I thought it was funny." Carter and I said in unison.

"You're both hopeless."

We walked up the steps of the black temple. A forest of stone pillars held up the ceiling. Every surface was carved with hieroglyphs and images, but there was no color—just black on black. Haze from the lake drifted through the temple, and despite reed torches that burned on each pillar, it was impossible to see very far through the gloom.

"Stay alert," Bast warned, sniffing the air. "He's close."

MY mind had been back home in my room, but that brought me back to earth with a bump. "Who?" I asked.

"The Dog," Bast said with disdain.

There was a snarling noise, and a huge black shape leaped out of the mist. It tackled Bast, who rolled over and wailed in feline outrage, then raced off, leaving us alone with the beast. I suppose she had warned us that she wasn't brave.

The new animal was sleek and black, like the Set animal we'd seen in Washington, D.C., but more obviously canine, graceful and rather cute, actually. A jackal, I realized, with a golden collar around its neck.

Then it morphed into a young man, and my heart almost stopped.

He had a pale complexion, tousled black hair, and rich brown eyes like melted chocolate. He was dressed in black jeans, combat boots, a ripped T-shirt, and a black leather jacket that suited him quite nicely. He was long and lean like a jackal. His ears, like a jackal's, stuck out a bit, and he wore a gold chain around his neck.

The boy in black stood and brushed off his jacket. "I'm not a dog," he grumbled.

"No." Sadie agreed. "You're-"

"A- Anubis." I interrupted

He turned on me and took a step back in confusion. "You- look, _different._ "

I sighed in exasperation. "I'm dying! That might be it or it could be that I've gotten _taller."_

We argued for a minute then I face palmed myself. "Yes! I know where Osiris is!"

He opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by Carter.

"You're Anubis?" he asked. "We've come for the feather of truth."

Anubis frowned. He locked his eyes with Sadie's. "You're not dead."

"No," Sadie said. "Though we're trying awfully hard."

"I don't deal with the living," he said firmly.

Then he looked at Khufu and Carter. "However, you travel with a baboon. That shows good taste. I won't kill you until you've had a chance to explain. Why did Bast bring you here?"

"Actually," Carter said, "Thoth sent us."

Carter started to tell him the story, but Khufu broke in impatiently. "Agh! Agh!"

Baboon-speak must have been quite efficient, because Anubis nodded as if he'd just gotten the whole tale. "I see."

He scowled at Carter. "So you're Horus. And you're..." His finger drifted towards Sadie.

"I'm—I'm, um—" She stammered. It was very unlike her to be tongue tied. Carter looked at her like she'd gone crazy, (Which she had. [Ow! Sadie!])

"I'm not Isis," She managed. "I mean, Isis is milling about inside, but I'm not her. She's just...visiting."

He smirked. "And Aria is hosting..."

I blinked. "I'm hosting a god?"

Anubis smiled. "Yes I suppose so."

 **Hahahahahahahah! I'm evil. I know.**

 **Aria: I'm hosting a god!**

 **Me: Kinda**

 **Aria: Amber!**

 **Tell me in the reviews who you think Aria is "kinda" hosting. Later!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi guys Ill be updating on weekends as often as I can. Enjoy!**

Aria

I don't exactly remember what happened next. I think I might have passed out at some point because the next thing I knew I was lying in The Hall of Judgement, sort of. The throne and scales were there but the rest of the hall had faded into a dark graveyard. I sat up dizzily.

Sadie and Anubis sat near me on a bench made of mummy wrappings.

I groaned quietly.

The dark spots around my eyes had almost faded, but I was still ready to throw up.

"if there really was no other way," Sadie was saying, "no other way at all— Oh, come off. It's a ridiculous question."

The plain white feather in her palm began to glow.

"All right," she relented. "If I had to, then I suppose...I suppose I would save the world."

There was a horrifying moment of silence and Sadie slowly met Anubis's eyes.

"I believe you, Sadie."

"Oh, really. I'm holding the bloody feather of truth, and you believe me. Well, thanks."

"The truth is harsh," Anubis said. "Spirits come to the Hall of Judgment all the time, and they cannot let go of their lies. They deny their faults, their true feelings, their mistakes...right up until Ammit devours their souls for eternity. It takes strength and courage to admit the truth."

"Yeah. I feel so strong and courageous. Thanks."

Anubis stood. "I should leave you now. You're running out of time. In just over twenty-four hours, the sun will rise on Set's birthday, and he will complete his pyramid—unless you stop him. Perhaps when next we meet—"

"You'll be just as annoying?" She guessed.

He fixed her with his brown eyes. "Or perhaps you could bring me up to speed on modern courtship rituals."

She sat there stunned until he gave her a glimpse of a smile—just enough to let her know he was teasing. Then he disappeared.

"Oh, very funny!" she yelled. The scales and the throne vanished. The linen bench unraveled and dumped her in the middle of the graveyard. Carter and Khufu appeared next to me, but she just kept yelling at the spot where Anubis had stood, calling him some choice names.

"What's going on?" Carter demanded. "Where are we?"

"He's horrible!" she growled. "Self-important, sarcastic, incredibly hot, insufferable—"

"Agh!" Khufu complained.

"Yeah," Carter agreed. "Did you get the feather or not?"

She held out her hand, and there it was—a glowing white plume floating above her fingers. She closed her fist and it disappeared again.

I tried to stand up but ended up lying on the ground with a baboon on my chest.

I giggled. "Hi Khufu."

"Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!" He grunted searching through my hair for bugs.

"Aria." Carter breathed. "Thank the gods."

"What?" I asked calmly.

Sadie grimaced. "You were dead."

I blinked. "What?"

"Aria." Carter said. "Don't ask."

I grumbled about muffins and how I was really hungry.

That's when Kronos decided to ruin my day.

 _Aria. I must speak with you formally._ The voice of Kronos echoed through my aching head.

 _And... Why exactly should I trust you?_

 _Simple You are near death._

 _Get out of my head and leave me alone._

 _I shall depart from you once we speak._

I shook my head and the world faded. The last thing I heard was Sadie shriek.

...

I sat up groggily.

I looked around and knew exactly where I was. The pit from my dream. The air felt toxic, burning my lungs as I took a breath. A sulfuric smell drifted about, like the air before a thunder storm. Dangerous.

"Aria." The Titan's voice hissed. "You must make a choice."

The words echoed through my head making me feel lost and alone.

"Join me or die."

My heart seemed to stop beating. I could feel my will fighting against his.

 _"_ Do you really believe you can save both worlds." He taunted. "Choose which will be saved!"

I shouldn't have listened but I knew he was right. I had no hope of keeping my secret from my friends in both worlds. I should give up and save Egypt leaving Camp Half Blood to perish. I was born a child of magic. Why should I care what happens to the Greeks. I should-

 _Don't listen to him!_ A girl's voice called through my head. _Is this who you are! Someone who gives up? Are you a quitter?_

The words shocked me. _Who- Who are you?_

The girl scoffed. _Who do you think? I'm you._

Kronos growled. "You will bow to me!"

 _Boom!_

The explosion rocked my brain. and I felt my will crumble. I was quickly loosing life. My feet felt like jelly.

I stumbled and fell directly into the bottomless pit.

 **Aria: Amber! Why do I keep dying!**

 **Me: Oops.**

 **Aria: (Chucks shoe at head)**

 **Me: (Run's out of room)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry guys I'm totally evil.**

Aria

I can't remember the fall. All I remember was the darkness. I realized it wasn't just around me. I was lost in the dark. So alone, home, that's where I wished to be, home. I heard the wind and smelled the ocean. Home. That's what my home was like.

I opened my eyes and immediately wished I hadn't. Standing over me were at least a dozen assorted monsters. An oddly familiar figure came forth, the figure (Who I still couldn't recognize) raised a sword over my chest. I registered that in an instant and shrieked, rolling out of the way as the blade struck the ground. I winced as pain went up my spine. That small movement had caused that an eruption of pain. Lamia. I jumped back as the monster struck again. Falling over and rolling backwards onto the dark sand bank of the river of fire. The monsters cheered and snarled as Lamia slowly walked towards me.

I knew that this crowd would soon realize that I was weak and injured. Then they would strike, and I would die.

Lamia snarled. "I prefer younger meat, but, I am hungry demigod, you will do fine."

My bracelet suddenly felt warm, the bracelet that had the charm of the ankh.

Lamia raised her sword. "Tonight! I will feast!"

I closed my eyes and she brought her sword down in a deadly arc.

...

Sadie

I was a little shocked when Aria suddenly disappeared. Carter just stared at the place she'd been in shock.

"What just happened?' He asked.

I shook my head helplessly. "I don't know." I said. "Come on. Let's ask our goddess."

...

Carter

Long story short: It took forever and was totally boring, unless your idea of fun is watching cows graze.

We left New Orleans about 1 a.m. on December twenty-eighth, the day before Set planned to destroy the world. Bast had "borrowed" an RV—a FEMA leftover from Hurricane Katrina. At first Bast suggested taking a plane, but after I told her about my dream of the magicians on the exploding flight, we agreed planes might not be a good idea. The sky goddess Nut had promised us safe air travel as far as Memphis, but I didn't want to press our luck the closer we got to Set. I hadn't really wanted to leave without Aria but we had to get to Phoenix.

"Set is not our only problem," Bast said. "If your vision is correct, the magicians are closing in on us. And not just any magicians—Desjardins himself."

"And Zia," Sadie put in, just to annoy me.

In the end, we decided it was safer to drive, even though it was slower. With luck, we'd make Phoenix just in time to challenge Set. As for the House of Life, all we could do was hope to avoid them while we did our job. Maybe once we dealt with Set, the magicians would decide we were cool. Maybe...

Sadie on the other hand seemed so distant you might think she'd been turned to stone.

I kept thinking about Desjardins, wondering if he really could be a host for Set. A day ago, it had made perfect sense. Desjardins wanted to crush the Kane family. He'd hated our dad, and he hated us. He'd probably been waiting for decades, even centuries, for Iskandar to die, so he could become Chief Lector. Power, anger, arrogance, ambition: Desjardins had it all. If Set was looking for a soulmate, literally, he couldn't do much better. And if Set could start a war between the gods and magicians by controlling the Chief Lector, the only winner would be the forces of chaos. Besides, Desjardins was an easy guy to hate. Somebody had sabotaged Amos's house and alerted Set that Amos was coming.

But the way Desjardins saved all those people on the plane—that just didn't seem like something the Lord of Evil would do.

Bast and Khufu took turns driving while Sadie and I dozed off and on. I didn't know baboons could drive recreational vehicles, but Khufu did okay. When I woke up around dawn, he was navigating through early morning rush hour in Houston, baring his fangs and barking a lot, and none of the other drivers seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary.

For breakfast, Sadie, Bast, and I sat in the RV's kitchen while the cabinets banged open and the dishes clinked and miles and miles of nothing went by outside. Bast had snagged us some snacks and drinks (and Friskies, of course) from a New Orleans all-night convenience store before we left, but nobody seemed very hungry. I could tell Bast was anxious. She'd already shredded most of the RV's upholstery, and was now using the kitchen table as a scratching post.

As for Sadie, she kept opening and closing her hand, staring at the feather of truth as if it were a phone she wished would ring. Ever since her disappearance in the Hall of Judgment, she'd been acting all distant and quiet. Not that I'm complaining, but it wasn't like her.

"What happened with Anubis?" I asked her for the millionth time.

She glared at me, ready to bite my head off. Then she apparently decided I wasn't worth the effort. She fixed her eyes on the glowing feather that hovered over her palm.

"We talked," she said carefully. "He asked me some questions."

"What kind of questions?"

"Carter, don't ask. Please."

Please? Okay, that really wasn't like Sadie.

I looked at Bast, but she wasn't any help. She was slowly gouging the Formica to bits with her claws.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

She kept her eyes on the table. "In the Land of the Dead, I abandoned you. Again."

"Anubis startled you," I said. "It's no big deal."

I gave up and shook my head then turned to Bast. "You know what happened to Aria don't you?"

She nodded. "Aria is not of our world she was needed somewhere else."

 **Aria: I'm really tired of dying.**

 **Me: Sorry**

 **Aria: Whatever**

 **So guys for those of you that don't know Lamia is a woman from Greek mythology. She had seven kids "I think" But I think Hera killed all but one. But any way not important. Once her children had been slain she went insane and devoured their bodies, becoming a demon, She spread like a plague across Greece Devouring the children of everyone she could find. Tada! Enjoy your next meal.**


	12. Chapter 12

**I am absolutely evil I** **know. Here guys an early update so you can see something interesting.**

Percy

 _I dreamed I was standing on the ground next to a river of fire, Aria lay next to me looking exhausted. The figure of a beautiful woman stepped towards her._

 _The woman licked her lips and snarled. "I prefer younger meat, but, demigod, I am hungry. You will do."_

 _She raised her sword and Aria closed her eyes. The sword stabbed downward as a scream cut through my lungs._

I shot awake knowing two things Aria was in danger and there was nothing I could do about it. I pulled myself out of bed and pulled a shirt over my head. I grabbed Riptide from my nightstand and went downstairs.

"Morning Percy." My mom said putting a plate of pancakes on the table.

I muttered something about it being morning and sat down. I tried to eat but my stomach was churning.

My mother glanced at me. "Percy are you alright?"

I nodded awkwardly and took a bite of my breakfast.

My mom wasn't fooled. "Is it Annabeth?" She asked putting down her own fork.

I shook my head. "It's a friend of mine from last year."

She blinked.

"She's in danger and there's nothing I can do."

My mom frowned. "Percy there's something else..."

...

Annabeth

I was in the sword arena when Percy Iris-Messaged me.

The shimmering mist appeared and I dropped my knife suddenly.

"Hi Percy!" I said, then noticing his worried frown added, "What happened?"

He shook his head helplessly. "Aria's in danger and my mom has been having strange dreams." He paused. "I'm really confused."

I opened my mouth but he cut me off.

"Annabeth is there a woman in Greek mythology who eats children?"

I nodded thinking. "Lamina or is it Lamia?" I threw my hands into the air in exasperation. "Ugh! Why can't I remember!"

Percy's brow furrowed. "Lamia. Lamia has Aria."

I dropped my knife again. "What!"

...

 **Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! I will give you the POV you would like.**

Aria

The sword stabbed towards me and I closed my eyes. There was a sudden burst of wind and a clang. I opened my eyes and gasped. Standing over me was a boy with brown eyes, tan skin that seemed to shimmer and unruly jet black hair. He was wearing a black leather jacket a black, a skull t-shirt, a silver studded belt hung off his black jeans. Around his neck hung a silver chain. His weapons were a set of night black knives. (Like Mine!) And the look in his eyes was murderous. In short it felt like the world had suddenly switched into high definition and showed a boy saving my life.

Lamia hissed. "You shall not succeed, vermin!"

The boy sorted. "Like that's supposed to convince me, you old hag!"

The monster growled and struck at him with her sword. He jumped back and brought his knives down to connect with her blade. The metal scraped together furiously, sending sparks into the poisoned air.

The boy growled. "Some help would be nice!"

It took me several minutes to realize that he was talking to me and several more to process his words. I shook my head and stood up unsteadily.

I had just managed to unsheathe my knives when the first monster leaped at me. I shrieked and ducked stabbing it as it flew over me. I was instantly covered in golden dust and feeling rather dizzy. I managed to roll out of the way when another pounced me. Lamia hissed at me and brought her sword down again towards my undefended chest. I reacted on instinct and threw my knife at her. It thudded between her eyes and she collapsed on top of me making me gasp under her weight. As she dissolved a jet black panther pounced me landing on my chest and baring it's teeth at me. My only clear thought had something to do with pancakes as it tried to bite my neck in half. The cat exploded just before its teeth closed around my throat.

"Hey princess, what brings you down here?" The boy in black stood over me grinning like he was trying not to laugh.

I growled, meaning to say _You're a jerk_ but saying instead, "I don't like dogs."

He blinked once like he was trying to process what I'd just said, Then cracked up. "Well, that was random. Need some help?"

I rolled my eyes and took his extended hand.

He grinned. "Alex."

I sighed. "Aria. Nice to meet you Alex."

He blinked. "Aria?"

"What?" I asked.

Alex rubbed his head nervously. "Umm... I'm your half brother."

I blinked, shocked. "What!"

...

Sadie

Arriving in New Mexico without Aria was one of the worst things ever. Excluding Gram's biscuits. (Carter's telling me that that's not fair to say. [Well _sorry,_ Carter for being honest.]

"Are you okay?" Asked Carter.

I growled. " _No!_ I just arrived in New Mexico, My cat goddess friend was just banished into the Duat, Khufu left to Brooklyn, The world's about to end and my half sister who suddenly disappeared has yet to return! I'm _Great!"_

Carter frowned. "Half sister? When were you planning on telling me this?"

I must've looked confused because he just sighed. "Whatever."

I grinned. "Let's go find our insane magical friend. Shall we."

Carter rolled his eyes, Amos sighed and they followed me down the road.

 **Well here it is. Carter know's that Aria is his half sister, Aria has a new half brother, Percy's mom has been having strange dreams and the world is going to end. I'll see you guys later. I will probably update sometime later this week. I'm on fall break for a few more days. See you guys later!**

 **Question for reviews: Who is Alex is a child of, mortally.**


	13. Chapter 13

**He guys I'm back again, here comes Halloween! I'm so excited! OMG Rick Riordan's new book came out a few days ago! I can't wait to read it!**

 **Alex: Aria doesn't like dogs!**

 **Aria: He's been yelling that all day.**

 **Me: Sorry**

Aria

I sat next to Alex on the ground in Apollo's shrine. We had decided that it was the best place to go, unless you like dying. I had pretty much fainted and after that Alex decided it might be a good idea for me to eat something. I hadn't objected so there we were, two grimy people sitting on in the middle of a shrine having a serious conversation about how we were going to live while eating popcorn.

Alex took a bite of an apple. "How'd you get stuck down here anyway?"

I rolled my eyes in exasperation. "Kronos."

Alex snorted. "I hate him."

"The feeling is mutual, brother." Kronos's hiss cut into our conversation.

I stood up drawing my knives. Alex did the same, I couldn't help but notice how angry he seemed. His eyes blazed as if he drew energy from his anger, I heard the crunch of gravel and saw a shadow looming behind Alex.

"Alex."

He glanced toward me and his eyes widened suddenly. "Aria! Look out!"

I gasped and lurched forward as a blade stabbed into the small of my back. All I could process was pain, I saw Alex get disarmed and his knives flew over my head. The rest was a blur, I could make out Alex struggling against the force of an Liastrygonian giant. Getting hit over the head and crumpling, but it felt like I was watching an old film that kept freezing. Gathering the last of my strength, I tried to pull myself up. Falling face first into the dirt I coughed raggedly and shuddered.

There was a slight tug around me and I felt the World dissolving. I reached toward my older brother as the monsters picked him up and slung him over their shoulders.

"Alex!" I screamed as I started disappear. He looked up and blinked.

I cried out and a tear fell onto my hand. I tumbled downward and fell out of the Duat and onto a blood red pyramid. I think I might have added to that color with my own blood, which was still streaming from the knife in my back.

My next thought was interrupted when Carter (in Chicken Warrior Form) tumbled over me and down the side of the Pyramid.

"Carter." I called weakly.

"Ah! It's the demigod."

I froze terrified. Then I shook my head and stood up unsteadily. I turned around and faced the god of the desert.

"Set!" I yelled. "You will pay for your treason against the House!"

He chuckled. "And you're going to do that how?"

I glared at him, "I'm an Earth elementalist, idiot."

"So it's you?" He asked mockingly.

I snarled. "That's me, Aria Kane daughter of Osiris god of the underworld, twenty third member of Cabin Eleven at Camp Half Blood, former host of Kronos Lord of Time, Half sister to Alex Hunt, Carter Kane and Sadie Kane, Aunt to Zeus, Poseidon, Hades and Chiron. So tell me, how would you like to be dispatched?"

"Like you have that power, especially in your condition." Set countered tauntingly. "Your just a small afraid little girl."

I snarled, but inside I knew he was right. I was useless. A terrified little girl who wanted to go home and have a real family.

I shook my head. _I am Aria Kane, second child of Julius Kane and 20th child of Gaea of the Earth. I will not let his words cloud my decisions._

I took a deep breath and reached into the Duat searching for something I'd lost in the battle with the Hydra. My hand brushed against a plastic bag and I grinned. I pulled and a bag of camp toiletries tumbled into my hand. I reached inside and grabbed the acid stained shampoo bottle. Inside swirled a murky green liquid, shampoo mixed with acid.

"Hey Set!" I yelled throwing the bottle towards him. "Catch!"

 _Splat!_

The bottle caught him in the face as he turned. The muck splattered his face and burnt into his skin, Set made a gruesome sound, like a cross between a howl and a machine getting crushed.

I blinked pretending to be shocked. "Wow you are an awful catcher."

Set growled and tried blink the acid out of his eyes. Which gave me just enough time to draw my knives and attack.

Set saw me out of the corner of his eye and struck back with his arm, I ducked under it and cut into his side. He howled and swung around to face me. I slid between his legs, stood up behind him and stabbed. I was about to duck under another blow but Set saw it coming and hit me square in the chest, The power sent me flying back into half a dozen demons. I groaned trying to stand but fell over instantly.

My breathing was heavy and ragged. "Note to self." I muttered. "Set doesn't use shampoo."

I looked up and saw Carter tumbling down the slope.

Set laughed. "Have a nice trip!" Then he picked up the capstone.

Carter rose, groaning. I tried to run to his aid but a blockade of demons cut off my path.

"Carter!" I yelled slicing through a demon.

Carter staggered up the slope, but before he'd closed even half the distance, Set placed the capstone and completed the structure. Red light flowed down the sides of the pyramid with a sound like the world's largest bass guitar, shaking the entire mountain and making my whole body go numb.

"Thirty seconds to sunrise!" Set yelled with glee. "And this land will be mine forever. You can't stop me alone, Horus—especially not in the desert, the source of my strength!"

"You're right," said a nearby voice.

I glanced over and saw Sadie rising from the air vent—radiant with multicolored light, her staff and wand glowing.

"Except Horus is not alone," she said. "And we're not going to fight you in the desert."

She struck her staff against the pyramid and shouted a name: the last words I'd ever expect her to utter as a battle cry.

 **Alex: Amber! What happens to me!**

 **Me: Uhhhhhhh**

 **Aria: She does that a lot**

 **Me: Yes I do!**

 **So tell me what should happen to Alex? It took me more than a month to write this, I'm really sorry**


	14. Chapter 14

So **Hi guys I'm really sorry about the wait, but school is stressful. In any case I still don't know what should happen to Alex. Help!**

 **Alex: Yay! we're back! You know everyone other than me.**

 **Me: Hey that's not fair. Percy's not back! Yet.**

 **Alex: Exactly!**

 **Aria: Oh Styx! Gotta go Set's trying to destroy the world**

 **Carter: Hey, How do I get the god to die? Aria? Hey, Where did you go?**

 **Me: Oh styx**

 **Enjoy!**

Aria

That awkward moment when you realize your sister is insane. Yeah I went through that for about .05 seconds, then got over it.

"Washington D.C!" Sadie yelled striking the pyramid, and silence spread through the cavern.

Set seemed to realize what she was doing. He let out a nervous laugh. "Magic one-oh-one, Sadie Kane. You can't open a portal during the Demon Days!"

"A mortal can't," she agreed. "But a goddess of magic can."

Above us, the air crackled with lightning. The top of the cavern dissolved into a churning vortex of sand as large as the pyramid.

Demons stopped fighting and looked up in horror. Magicians stammered midspell, their faces slack with awe.

The vortex was so powerful that it ripped blocks off the pyramid and sucked them into the sand. And then, like a giant lid, the portal began to descend.

"No!" Set roared. He blasted the portal with flames, then turned on me and hurled stones and lightning, but it was too late. The portal swallowed us all.

The world seemed to flip upside down. For a heartbeat, I wondered if she'd made a terrible miscalculation—if Set's pyramid would explode in the portal, and I'd spend eternity floating through the Duat as a billion with little particles of Sadie sand. Then, with a sonic boom, we appeared in the cold morning air with a brilliant blue sky above us. Spread out below us were the snow-covered fields of the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The red pyramid was still intact, but cracks had appeared on its surface. The gold capstone glowed, trying to maintain its magic, but we weren't in Phoenix anymore. The pyramid had been ripped from its source of power, the desert, and in front us loomed the default gateway for North America, the tall white obelisk that was the most powerful focal point of Ma'at on the continent: the Washington Monument.

Set screamed something at her in Ancient Egyptian. I'm not going to translate because then Carter would rinse my mouth with soap, so, no thanks.

"I will rend your limbs from their sockets!" Set shouted. "I will—"

"Die?" Carter suggested. He rose behind Set and swung his sword. The blade cut into Set's armor at the ribs—not a killing blow, but enough to knock the Red God off balance and send him tumbling down the side of his pyramid. Carter bounded after him, and in the Duat I could see arcs of white energy pulsing from the Washington Monument to the Horus avatar, charging it with new power.

"The book, Sadie!" Carter shouted as he ran. "Do it now!"

I realized what he meant and leaped up the pyramid with more speed than Bast had when I'd distracted the magicians at luvore.

"Sadie read the book!" I shouted.

"No!" the Red God shouted. He charged towards me, but Carter intercepted him halfway up the slope.

He grappled with Set, holding him back. The stones of the pyramid cracked and crumbled under the weight of their godly forms. All around the base of the pyramid, demons and magicians who'd been pulled through the portal and knocked momentarily unconscious were starting to stir.

Sadie held out her hand and summoned the little blue tome we'd stolen from Paris: The Book of Overcoming Set. She unfolded the papyrus. She called for the feather of truth, and instantly it appeared, glowing above the pages.

She began the spell, speaking the Divine Words, and her body rose into the air, hovering a few centimeters above the pyramid. She chanted the story of creation: the first mountain rising above the waters of chaos, the birth of the gods Ra, Geb, and Nut, the rise of Ma'at, and the first great empire of men, Egypt.

The Washington Monument began to glow as hieroglyphs appeared along its sides. The capstone gleamed silver.

Set tried to lash out at Sadie, but Carter intercepted him. And the red pyramid began to break apart. I ran up the side of the pyramid, jumping over a large crack I rolled out of the way from an attack from a final demon. I stabbed up with my blade and was covered with dirt again.

 _Wow that was helpful._ Kronos muttered.

 _Shut it!_  
I thought about Amos and Zia, trapped inside under tons of stone, and I faltered. There was a shift in the ground and I felt a terrifying tug in my gut. A sudden crash cam from underneath us and I resisted the urge to cry.

 _Watch._ A voice told me. _It's happening._

That made no sense but somehow I knew that what she meant. She was telling me to watch. Something important was about to happen.

Through the Duat, I saw magic forming around Sadie, weaving a white sheen over the world, reinforcing Ma'at and expelling chaos. Carter and Set wrestled back and forth as huge chunks of the pyramid collapsed.

The feather of truth glowed, shining like a spotlight on the Red God. As She neared the end of the spell, her words began tearing Set's form to shreds.

In the Duat, his fiery whirlwind was being stripped away, revealing a black-skinned, slimy thing like an emaciated Set animal—the evil essence of the god. But in the mortal world, occupying the same space, there stood a proud warrior in red armor, blazing with power and determined to fight to the death.

"I name you Set," She chanted. "I name you Evil Day."

With a thunderous roar, the pyramid imploded. Set fell crashing into the ruins. He tried to rise, but Carter swung his sword. Set barely had time to raise his staff. Their weapons crossed, and Horus slowly forced Set to one knee.

"Now, Sadie!" Carter yelled.

"You have been my enemy," I chanted along with her, "and a curse on the land."

A line of white light shot down the length of the Washington Monument. It widened into a rift—a doorway between this world and the brilliant white abyss that would lock Set away, trapping his life force. Maybe not forever, but for a long, long time.

To complete the spell, she only had to speak one more line: _"Deserving no mercy, an enemy of Ma'at, you are exiled beyond the earth."_

The line had to be spoken with absolute conviction. The feather of truth required it. And why shouldn't she believe it? It was the truth. Set deserved no mercy. He was an enemy of Ma'at.

But I hesitated in telling her to do it.

I looked towards the top of the monument, and in the Duat I saw chunks of pyramid flying skyward and the souls of demons lifting off like fireworks. As Set's chaos magic dispersed, all the force that had been charging up, ready to destroy a continent, was being sucked into the clouds. And as I watched, the chaos tried to form a shape. It was like a red reflection of the Potomac—an enormous crimson river at least a mile long and a hundred meters wide. It writhed in the air, trying to become solid, and I felt its rage and bitterness. This was not what it had wanted. There was not enough power or chaos for its purpose. To form properly, it needed the death of millions, the wasting of an entire continent.

It was not a river. It was a snake.

"Sadie!" Carter yelled. "What are you waiting for?"

Set was on his knees, writhing and cursing as white energy encircled him, pulling him towards the rift. "Lost your stomach, witch?" he bellowed. Then he glared at Carter. "You see, Horus? Isis was always a coward. She could never complete the deed!"

I glared at him. "Shut it. You have no right to talk."

"You." He growled. "Are in no position to speak to me-"

He was cut off by me muttering a spell that bound his mouth.

"Don't speak out loud." I told him. "You'll lower the intelligence of the entire city."

"Mmm!"

"Hush." I told him and turned to Sadie.

Carter looked at her, and for a moment I saw the doubt on his face. Horus would be urging him towards bloody vengeance. I was hesitating. This is what had turned Isis and Horus against each other before. We couldn't let it happen now. We were a family and we needed to work together.

Sadie sent me a questioning look. I gave her an encouraging nod, telling her silently that no matter what she did I would probably do the same.

"Carter, look." She threw the feather of truth into the sky, breaking the spell.

"No!" Carter screamed.

But the feather exploded into silver dust that clung to the form of the serpent, forcing it to become visible, just for an instant.

Carter's mouth fell open as the serpent writhed in the air above Washington, slowly losing power.

Next to her, a voice screamed: "Wretched gods!"

I turned to see Set's minion, Face of Horror, with his fangs bared and his grotesque face only inches from Sadie's, a jagged knife raised above her head.

Carter had thrown his sword with deadly accuracy. The demon dropped his knife, fell to his knees, and stared down at the blade that was now sheathed in his side.

He crumpled to his back, exhaling with an angry hiss. His black eyes fixed on me, and he spoke in a completely different voice—a rasping, dry sound, like a reptile's belly scraping over sand. "This is not over, godling. All this I have wrought with a wisp of my voice, the merest bit of my essence wriggling from my weakened cage. Imagine what I shall do when fully formed."

He gave me a ghastly smile, and then his face went slack. A tiny line of red mist curled from his mouth—like a worm or a fresh-hatched snake—and writhed upward into the sky to join its source. The demon's body disintegrated into sand.

My sister I looked up once more at the giant red serpent slowly dissolving in the sky. Then Sadie summoned a good strong wind and dispersed it completely.

The Washington Monument stopped glowing. The rift closed, and the little spell book disappeared from my sister's hand.

I moved towards Set, who was still ensnared in ropes of white energy. I'd spoken his true name. He wasn't going anywhere just yet.

"You all saw the serpent in the clouds," She said. "Apophis."

I nodded. "Definitely." I said, then muttered. "I'll never forget that snake."

Carter nodded, in stunned agreement with his sister. "He was trying to break into the mortal world, using the Red Pyramid as a gateway. If its power had been unleashed..." He looked down in revulsion at the pile of sand that had once been a demon. "Set's lieutenant—Face of Horror—he was possessed by Apophis all along, using Set to get what he wanted."

"Ridiculous!" Set glared at us and struggled against his bonds. "The snake in the clouds was one of your tricks, Isis. An illusion."

"You know it wasn't," I said.

"I could've sent you into the abyss, Set, but you saw the real enemy." Sadie continued. "Apophis was trying to break out of his prison in the Duat. His voice possessed Face of Horror. He was using you."

"No one uses me!"

Carter let his warrior form disperse. He floated to the ground and summoned his sword back to his hand. "Apophis wanted your explosion to feed his power, Set. As soon as he came through the Duat and found us dead, I'm betting you would've been his first meal. Chaos would've won."

"I am chaos!" Set insisted.

"Partially," Sadie said. "But you're still one of the gods. True, you're evil, faithless, ruthless, vile—"

"You make me blush, sister."

"But you're also the strongest god. In the ancient times, you were Ra's faithful lieutenant, defending his boat against Apophis. Ra couldn't have defeated the Serpent without you."

"I am pretty great,"Set admitted

"You wish." I muttered.

"But Ra is gone forever, thanks to you." He continued ignoring my comment.

"Maybe not forever," Sadie said. "We'll have to find him. Apophis is rising, which means we'll need all the gods to battle him. Even you."

Set tested his bonds of white energy. When he found he couldn't break them, he gave her a crooked smile. "You suggest an alliance? You'd trust me?"

Carter laughed. "You've got to be kidding. But we've got your number, now. Your secret name. Right, Sadie?"

She closed her fingers, and the bonds tightened around Set. He cried out in pain. It took a great deal of energy, and I knew she couldn't hold him like this for long, but there was no point telling that to Set.

"The House of Life tried banishing the gods," I said.

"It didn't work." Sadie agreed. "If we lock you away, we're no better than they are. It doesn't solve anything."

"I couldn't agree more," Set groaned. "So if you'll just loosen these bonds—"

"You're still a villainous piece of scum," She said. "But you have a role to play, and you'll need controlling. I'll agree to release you—if you swear to behave, to return to the Duat, and not cause trouble until we call you. And then you'll make trouble only for us, fighting against Apophis."

"Or I could chop off your head," Carter suggested. "That would probably exile you for a good long while."

Set glanced back and forth between us. "Make trouble for you, eh? That is my specialty."

"Swear by your own name and the throne of Ra," She said. "You will leave now and not reappear until you are called."

"Oh, I swear," he said, much too quickly. "By my name and Ra's throne and our mother's starry elbows."

"If you betray us," Sadie warned, "I have your name. I won't show you mercy a second time."

"You always were my favorite sister."

"Shut it."

Sadie gave him one last shock, and then let the bindings dissolve.

Set stood up and flexed his arms. He appeared as a warrior with red armor and red skin, a black, forked beard, and twinkling, cruel eyes; but in the Duat, I saw his other side, a raging inferno just barely contained, waiting to be unleashed and burn everything in its path. He winked at Horus, then pretended to shoot me with a finger gun. "Oh, this will be good. We're going to have so much fun."

"Begone, Evil Day," My sister said.

He turned into a pillar of salt and dissolved.

The snow in the National Mall had melted in a perfect square, the exact size of Set's pyramid. Around the edges, a dozen magicians still lay passed out. The poor dears had started to stir when our portal closed, but the explosion of the pyramid had knocked them all out again. Other mortals in the area had also been affected. An early-morning jogger was slumped on the sidewalk. On nearby streets, cars idled while the drivers took naps over the steering wheels.

Not everyone was asleep, though. Police sirens wailed in the distance, and seeing as how we'd teleported practically into the president's backyard, I knew it wouldn't be long before we had a great deal of heavily armed company.

Carter, Sadie and I ran to the center of the melted square, where Amos and Zia lay crumpled in the grass. There was no sign of Set's throne or the golden coffin, but I tried to push those thoughts out of my mind.

Amos groaned. "What..." His eyes clouded over with terror. "Set...he...he..."

"Rest." I put my hand on his forehead. He was burning with fever. The pain in his mind was so sharp, it cut me like a razor. Sadie copied me and gave him a look of concern.

"Quiet," She whispered. "Hah-ri."

Faint hieroglyphs glowed over his face:

Amos drifted back to sleep, but I knew it was only a temporary fix.

Zia was even worse off. Carter cradled her head and spoke reassuringly about how she would be fine, but she looked bad. Her skin was a strange reddish color, dry and brittle, as if she'd suffered a horrible sunburn. In the grass around her, hieroglyphs were fading—the remains of a protective circle—and I thought I understood what had happened. She'd used her last bit of energy to shield herself and Amos when the pyramid imploded.

"Set?" she asked weakly. "Is he gone?"

"Yes." Carter glanced at me, and I knew we'd be keeping the details to ourselves. "Everything's fine, thanks to you. The secret name worked."

She nodded, satisfied, and her eyes began to close.

"Hey." Carter's voice quavered. "Stay awake. You're not going to leave me alone with Sadie, are you? She's bad company."

Zia tried to smile, but the effort made her wince. "I was...never here, Carter. Just a message—a placeholder."

"Come on. No. That's no way to talk."

"Find her, will you?" Zia said. A tear traced its way down her nose. "She'd...like that...a date at the mall." Her eyes drifted away from him and stared blankly into the sky.

"Zia!" Carter clutched her hand. "Stop that. You can't...You can't just..."

Sadie and I knelt next to him and, my hand touched Zia's face. It was cold as stone. And even though I understood what had happened, I couldn't think of anything to say, or any way to console my brother. He shut his eyes tight and lowered his head.

Then it happened. Along the path of Zia's tear, from the corner of her eye to the base of her nose, Zia's face cracked. Smaller fractures appeared, webbing her skin. Her flesh dried out, hardening...turning to clay.

"Carter," I said.

"What?" he said miserably.

He looked up just as a small blue light drifted out of Zia's mouth and flew into the sky. Carter backed away in shock. "What—what did you do?"

"Nothing," I said. "She's a shabti. She said she wasn't really here. She was just a placeholder."

Carter looked bewildered. But then a small light started to burn in his eyes—a tiny bit of hope. "Then...the real Zia is alive?"

"Iskandar was protecting her," I said. "Like he was me."

"When the spirit of Nephthys joined with the real Zia in London, Iskandar knew she was in danger." Sadie agreed. Iskandar hid her away and replaced her with a shabti. Remember what Thoth said: 'Shabti make excellent stunt doubles?' That's what she was. And Nephthys told me she was sheltered somewhere, inside a sleeping host."

"But where—"

"I don't know," she said. And in Carter's present state, I knew Sadie was too afraid to raise the real question: If Zia had been a shabti all this time, had we ever known her at all? The real Zia had never gotten close to us. She'd never discovered what an incredibly amazing person I was. God forbid, she might not even like Carter.

Carter touched her face and it crumbled to dust. He picked up her wand, which remained solid ivory, but he held it gingerly as if he were afraid it too would dissolve. "That blue light," he began to ramble, "I saw Zia release one in the First Nome, too. Just like the shabti in Memphis—they sent their thoughts back to Thoth. So Zia must've been in contact with her shabti. That's what the light was. They must've been, like, sharing memories, right? She must know what the shabti's been through. If the real Zia is alive somewhere, she might be locked up or in some kind of magic sleep or— We have to find her!"

"Carter. " I said gently. "We-"

Then a familiar voice sent a cold shiver down my back: "What have you done?"

Desjardins was literally fuming. His tattered robes still smoked from battle. (Carter says I shouldn't mention that his pink boxer shorts were showing, but they were!) His staff was aglow, and the whiskers in his beard smoldered. Behind him stood three equally battered magicians, who all looked as if they'd just regained consciousness.

"Oh, good," Sadie muttered. "You're alive."

"You bargained with Set?" Desjardins demanded. "You let him go?"

"We don't answer to you," Carter growled. He stepped forward, hand on his sword, but I put out my arm to hold him back.

"Let Sadie handle it." I whispered.

"Desjardins," my sister said obviously as calmly as she could, "Apophis is rising, in case you missed that part. We need the gods. The House of Life has to relearn the old ways."

"The old ways destroyed us!" he yelled.

"Desjardins." I interrupted.

A year ago, the look in his eyes would've made me tremble. He fairly glowed with rage, and hieroglyphs blazed in the air around him. He was the Chief Lector, and I'd just undone everything the House had worked for since the fall of Egypt. Desjardins was a heartbeat away from turning me into an insect, and the thought should've terrified me.

Instead my only thought was how many people had almost turned me into a hamster. Okay false, my only thought was; _I don't like bugs._

"Pride destroyed you," Sadie said. "Greed and selfishness and all of that. It's hard to follow the path of the gods. But it is part of magic. You can't just shut it down."

"You are drunk with power," he snarled. "The gods have possessed you, as they always do. Soon you will forget you are even human. We will fight you and destroy you." Then he glared at Carter. "And you—I know what Horus would demand. You will never reclaim the throne. With my last breath—"

"Save it," She said. Then faced our brother. "You know what we have to do?"

They seemed to have a mental conversation about important things.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "We're leaving ourselves open." He glared at Desjardins. "Just one more good smack with the sword?"

"I'm sure, Carter." Sadie said.

She closed her eyes and seemed to focus.

When she finally opened her eyes, Carter stood next to her looking grief-stricken, holding his Eye of Horus amulet.

 _Okay._ I told Kronos, _Our turn._

 _What can I help you with?_ He asked.

 _I need you out of my head._ I told him. _Especially if you want me to join you. I need to make my own decisions without your input._

 _You will regret this._

Then he was gone.

Desjardins was so stunned, he momentarily forgot how to speak English. "Ce n'est pas possible. On ne pourrait pas—"

"Yes, we could," Sadie said. "We've given up the gods of our own free will. And you've got a lot to learn about what's possible."

Carter threw down his sword. "Desjardins, I'm not after the throne. Not unless I earn it by myself, and that's going to take time. We're going to learn the path of the gods. We're going to teach others. You can waste time trying to destroy us, or you can help."

The sirens were much closer now. I could see the lights of emergency vehicles coming from several directions, slowly cordoning off the National Mall. We had only minutes before we were surrounded.

Desjardins looked at the magicians behind him, probably gauging how much support he could rally. His brethren looked in awe. One even started to bow to me, then caught himself.

Alone, Desjardins might've been able to destroy us. We were just magicians now—very tired magicians, with hardly any formal training.

Desjardins' nostrils flared. Then he surprised me by lowering his staff. "There has been too much destruction today. But the path of the gods shall remain closed. If you cross the House of Life again..."

"Agreed." I told him.

He glared at me. "I know where you've been, you must give up on the path of the gods. You are not powerful enough."

I stepped towards him and sheathed my knives. "I will never be able to resist the path the House of Life set me on, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try. Despite your anger towards me, you have always been like a father. That will never be gone, but I have finally discovered who I am. Granted I don't like it but I can't change it. Neither can you."

"In honor of our past, I will not punish you, but if you ever challenge me again..."

He let the threat hang in the air. He slammed his staff down, and with a final burst of energy, the four magicians dissolved into wind and gusted away.

I smiled. My memory was returning fully I was beginning to know who I was.

Then Amos groaned and started sitting up. Police cars and sinister-looking black vans blocked the curbs all around us. Sirens blared. A helicopter sliced through the air over the Potomac, closing fast. God only knew what the mortals thought had happened at the Washington Monument, but I didn't want my face on the nightly news. Percy would never stop questioning me.

"Carter, we have to get out of here," Sadie said. "Can you summon enough magic to change Amos into something small—a mouse maybe? We can fly him out."

He nodded, still in a daze. "But Dad...we didn't..."

He looked around helplessly. I knew how he felt. The pyramid, the throne, the golden coffin—all of it was gone. We'd come so far to rescue our father, only to lose him. And Carter's first girlfriend lay at his feet in a pile of pottery shards. That probably didn't help either. (Carter protests that she wasn't really his girlfriend. Oh, please!)

I sighed. We had to stay together. Or we'd all end up in prison.

"First things first," Sadie said. "We have to get Amos to safety."

"Where?" Carter asked.

There was only one place I could think of.

I turned to Sadie. "Come on let's get to the airport. We're all headed back to New York."

Carter

If anybody felt worse than I did, it was Amos. I had just enough magic to turn myself into a falcon and him into a hamster (hey, I was rushed!), but a few miles from the National Mall, he started struggling to change back. I still don't know what Aria did.

Sadie and I were forced to land outside a train station, where Amos turned back into a human and curled into a shivering ball. We tried to talk to him, but he could barely complete a sentence. Aria touched his forehead and muttered something under her breath. Instantly his breathing steadied and his face stopped paling.

Finally we got him into the station. We let him sleep on a bench while Sadie, Aria and I warmed up and watched the news.

According to Channel 5, the whole city of Washington was under lockdown. There'd been reports of explosions and weird lights at the Washington Monument, but all the cameras could show us was a big square of melted snow on the mall, which kind of made for boring video. Experts came on and talked about terrorism, but eventually it became clear that there'd been no permanent damage—just a bunch of scary lights. After a while, the media started speculating about freak storm activity or a rare southern appearance of the Northern Lights. Within an hour, the authorities opened up the city.

"Honestly." Aria asked. "What are they going to come up with next?"

I wished we had Bast with us, because Amos was in no shape to be our chaperone; but we managed to buy tickets for our "sick" uncle and ourselves as far as New York.

I slept on the way, the amulet of Horus clutched in my hand.

We got back to Brooklyn at sunset.

We found the mansion burned out, which we'd expected, but we had nowhere else to go. I knew we'd made the right choice when we guided Amos through the doorway and heard a familiar, "Agh! Agh!"

"Khufu!" Sadie cried.

The baboon tackled her in a hug and climbed onto her shoulders. He picked at her hair, seeing if she'd brought him any good bugs to eat. Then he jumped off and grabbed a half-melted basketball. He grunted at me insistently, pointing to a makeshift basket he'd made out of some burned beams and a laundry basket. It was a gesture of forgiveness, I realized. He had forgiven me for sucking at his favorite game, and he was offering lessons. Looking around, I realized that he'd tried to clean up in his own baboon way, too. He'd dusted off the one surviving sofa, stacked Cheerios boxes in the fireplace, and even put a dish of water and fresh food out for Muffin, who was curled up asleep on a little pillow. In the clearest part of the living room, under an intact section of roof, Khufu had made three separate mounds of pillows and sheets—sleeping places for us.

I got a lump in my throat. Seeing the care that he'd taken getting ready for us, I couldn't imagine a better welcome home present.

"Khufu," I said, "you are one freaking awesome baboon."

"Agh!" he said, pointing to the basketball.

"You want to school me?" I said. "Yeah, I deserve it. Just give us a second to..."

My smile melted when I saw Amos.

He'd drifted over to the ruined statue of Thoth. The god's cracked ibis head lay at his feet. His hands had broken off, and his tablet and stylus lay shattered on the ground. Amos stared at the headless god—the patron of magicians—and I could guess what he was thinking. A bad omen for a homecoming.

"It's okay," I told him. "We're going to make it right."

If Amos heard me, he gave no sign. He drifted over to the couch and plopped down, putting his head in his hands.

"Amos." Air whispered. " I need to speak with you."

He looked up at her and recognition dawned on his face. "You?"

Aria smiled. "Come on, upstairs we go."

She led him up the ruined staircase and out of sight.

Sadie glanced at me uneasily. Then she looked around at the blackened walls, the crumbling ceilings, the charred remains of the furniture.

"Well," she said, trying to sound upbeat. "How about I play basketball with Khufu, and you can clean the house?"

Even with magic, it took us several weeks to put the house back in order. That was just to make it livable. It was hard without Isis and Horus helping, but we could still do magic. It just took a lot more concentration and a lot more time. Every day, I went to sleep feeling as if I'd done twelve hours of hard labor; but eventually we got the walls and ceilings repaired, and cleaned up the debris until the house no longer smelled of smoke.

Aria was a great help, she was always positive and seemed to have a way with stone. She touched the broken pieces of Toth's statue in turn and then whispered under her breath. Instantly it repaired itself but then collapsed with Aria. She woke up later that evening and face palmed herself, then instantly went to work on dinner. After that she went back to mending broken things.

We even managed to fix the terrace and the pool. We brought Amos out to watch as we released the wax crocodile figurine into the water, and Philip of Macedonia sprang to life.

Amos almost smiled when he saw that. Then he sank into a chair on the terrace and stared desolately at the Manhattan skyline.

I began to wonder if he would ever be the same. He'd lost too much weight. His face looked haggard. Most days he wore his bathrobe and didn't even bother to comb his hair.

"He was taken over by Set," Sadie told me one morning, when I mentioned how worried I was. "Do you have any idea how violating that is? His will was broken. He doubts himself and...Well, it may be a long time..."

We tried to lose ourselves in work. We repaired the statue of Thoth, (Aria passed out again) and fixed the broken shabti in the library. I was better at grunt work—moving blocks of stone or heaving ceiling beams into place. Sadie was better at fine details, like repairing the hieroglyphic seals on the doors. Once, she really impressed me by imagining her bedroom just as it had been and speaking the joining spell, hi-nehm. Pieces of furniture flew together out of the debris, and boom!: instant repair job. Of course, Sadie passed out for twelve hours afterward, but still...pretty cool. Slowly but surely, the mansion began to feel like home.

At night I would sleep with my head on a charmed headrest, which mostly kept my ba from drifting off; but sometimes I still had strange visions—the red pyramid, the serpent in the sky, or the face of my father as he was trapped in Set's coffin. Once I thought I heard Zia's voice trying to tell me something from far away, but I couldn't make out the words.

Sadie and I kept our amulets locked in a box in the library. Every morning I would sneak down to make sure they were still there. I would find them glowing, warm to the touch, and I would be tempted—very tempted—to put on the Eye of Horus. But I knew I couldn't. The power was too addictive, too dangerous. I'd achieved a balance with Horus once, under extreme circumstances, but I knew it would be too easy to get overwhelmed if I tried it again. I had to train first, become a more powerful magician, before I would be ready to tap that much power.

One night at dinner, we had a visitor.

Amos had gone to bed early, as he usually did. Khufu was inside watching ESPN with Muffin on his lap. Sadie and I sat exhausted on the deck overlooking the river. Philip of Macedonia floated silently in his pool. Except for the hum of the city, the night was quiet.

Aria gathered the plates from the table and went upstairs to check on Amos. She returned looking glum and muttering to herself. She leaned against the terrace and stared at the distant Manhattan skyline.

I'm not sure how it happened, but one minute we were alone, and the next there was a guy standing at the railing. He was lean and tall, with messed-up hair and pale skin, and his clothes were all black, as if he'd mugged a priest or something. He was probably around sixteen, and even though I'd never seen his face before, I had the weirdest feeling that I knew him.

Sadie stood up so quickly she knocked over her split-pea soup—which is gross enough in the bowl, but running all over the table? Yuck.

"Anubis!" she blurted.

Aria glanced over nodded a hello and stepped back. "Hey Anubis. How's life?"

"Ha-Ha" He shot back. "Very funny."

Anubis? I thought she was kidding, because this guy did not look anything like the slavering jackal-headed god I'd seen in the Land of the Dead. He stepped forward, and my hand crept for my wand.

"Sadie," he said. "Carter. Aria, Would you come with me, please?"

"Sure," Sadie said, her voice a little strangled.

"Hold on," I said. "Where are we going?"

Anubis gestured behind him, and a door opened in the air—a pure black rectangle. "Someone wants to see you."

Sadie took his hand and stepped through into the darkness, which left me no choice but to follow. Aria groaned and unwillingly followed.

The Hall of Judgment had gotten a makeover. The golden scales still dominated the room, but they had been fixed. The black pillars still marched off into the gloom on all four sides. But now I could see the overlay—the strange holographic image of the real world—and it was no longer a graveyard, as Sadie had described. It was a white living room with tall ceilings and huge picture windows. Double doors led to a terrace that looked out over the ocean.

I was struck speechless. I looked at Sadie, and judging from the shock on her face, I guessed she recognized the place too: our house in Los Angeles, in the hills overlooking the Pacific—the last place we'd lived as a family.

"The Hall of Judgment is intuitive," a familiar voice said. "It responds to strong memories."

Aria simply stood there dumbfounded, staring at the source of the sound.

Only then did I notice the throne wasn't empty anymore. Sitting there, with Ammit the Devourer curled at his feet, was our father.

I almost ran to him, but something held me back. He looked the same in many ways—the long brown coat, the rumpled suit and dusty boots, his head freshly shaven and his beard trimmed. His eyes gleamed the way they did whenever I made him proud.

But his form shimmered with a strange light. Like the room itself, I realized, he existed in two worlds. I concentrated hard, and my eyes opened to a deeper level of the Duat.

Dad was still there, but taller and stronger, dressed in the robes and jewels of an Egyptian pharaoh. His skin was a dark shade of blue like the deep ocean.

Anubis walked over and stood at his side, but Sadie and I were a little more cautious.

"Well, come on," Dad said. "I won't bite."

Ammit the Devourer growled as we came close, but Dad stroked his crocodile head and shushed him. "These are my children, Ammit. Behave."

"D-Dad?" I stammered.

Now I want to be clear: even though weeks had passed since the battle with Set, and even though I'd been busy rebuilding the mansion the whole time, I hadn't stopped thinking about my dad for a minute. Every time I saw a picture in the library, I thought of the stories he used to tell me. I kept my clothes in a suitcase in my bedroom closet, because I couldn't bear the idea that our life traveling together was over. I missed him so much I would sometimes turn to tell him something before I forgot that he was gone. In spite of all that, and all the emotion boiling around inside me, all I could think of to say was: "You're blue."

My dad's laugh was so normal, so him, that it broke the tension. The sound echoed through the hall, and even Anubis cracked a smile.

"Goes with the territory," Dad said. "I'm sorry I didn't bring you here sooner, but things have been..." He looked at Anubis for the right word.

"Complicated," Anubis suggested.

"Complicated. I have meant to tell you both how proud I am of you, how much the gods are in your debt—"

"Hang on," Sadie said. She stomped right up to the throne. Ammit growled at her, but Sadie growled back, which confused the monster into silence.

"What are you?" she demanded. "My dad? Osiris? Are you even alive?"

Dad looked at Anubis. "What did I tell you about her? Fiercer than Ammit, I said."

"You didn't need to tell me." Anubis's face was grave. "I've learned to fear that sharp tongue."

Sadie looked outraged. "Excuse me?"

"To answer your question," Dad said, "I am both Osiris and Julius Kane. I am alive and dead, though the term recycled might be closer to the truth. Osiris is the god of the dead, and the god of new life. To return him to his throne—"

"You had to die," I said. "You knew this going into it. You intentionally hosted Osiris, knowing you would die."

I was shaking with anger. I didn't realize how strongly I'd felt about it, but I couldn't believe what my dad had done. "This is what you meant by 'making things right'?"

My dad's expression didn't change. He was still looking at me with pride and downright joy, as if everything I did delighted him—even my shouting. It was infuriating.

"I missed you, Carter," he said. "I can't tell you how much. But we made the right choice. We all did. If you had saved me in the world above, we would have lost everything. For the first time in millennia, we have a chance at rebirth, and a chance to stop chaos because of you."

"There had to be another way," I said. "You could've fought as a mortal, without...without—"

"Carter, when Osiris was alive, he was a great king. But when he died—"

"He became a thousand times more powerful," I said, remembering the story Dad used to tell me.

My father nodded. "The Duat is the foundation for the real world. If there is chaos here, it reverberates in the upper world. Helping Osiris to his throne was a first step, a thousand times more important than anything I could've done in the world above—except being your father. And I am still your father. Your's too Aria."

My eyes stung. I guess I understood what he was saying, but I didn't like it. Sadie looked even angrier than me, but she was glaring at Anubis.

"Sharp tongue?" she demanded.

Dad cleared his throat. "Children, there is another reason I made my choice, as you can probably guess." He held out his hand, and a woman in a black dress appeared next to him. She had golden hair, intelligent blue eyes, and a face that looked familiar. She looked like Sadie.

"Mom," I said.

She gazed back and forth from Sadie to me in amazement, (completely ignoring Aria who looked very pleased about that) as if we were the ghosts. "Julius told me how much you'd grown, but I couldn't believe it. Carter, I bet you're shaving—"

"Mom."

"—and dating girls—"

Aria glanced at me apologetically, like she totally understood how embarrassing that was.

"Mom!" Have you ever noticed how parents can go from the most wonderful people in the world to totally embarrassing in three seconds?

She smiled at me, and I had to fight with about twenty different feelings at once. I'd spent years dreaming of being back with my parents, together in our house in L.A. But not like this: not with the house just an afterimage, and my mom a spirit, and my dad...recycled. I felt like the world was shifting under my feet, turning into sand.

"We can't go back, Carter," Mom said, as if reading my mind. "But nothing is lost, even in death. Do you remember the law of conservation?"

It had been six years since we'd sat together in the living room—this living room, and she'd read me the laws of physics the way most parents read bedtime stories. But I still remembered. "Energy and matter can't be created or destroyed."

"Only changed," my mother agreed. "And sometimes changed for the better."

She took Dad's hand, and I had to admit—blue and ghostly or not—they kind of looked happy.

"Mum." Sadie swallowed. For once, her attention wasn't on Anubis. "Did you really...was that—"

"Yes, my brave girl. My thoughts mixed with yours. I'm so proud of you. And thanks to Isis, I feel like I know you as well." She leaned forward and smiled conspiratorially. "I like chocolate caramels, too, though your grandmum never approved of keeping sweets in the flat."

Sadie broke into a relieved grin. "I know! She's impossible!"

I got the feeling they were going to start chatting for hours, but just then the Hall of Judgment rumbled. Dad checked his watch, which made me wonder what time zone the Land of the Dead was in.

"We should wrap things up," he said. "The others are expecting you."

"Others?" I asked.

"A gift before you go." Dad nodded to Mom.

She stepped forward and handed me a palm-size package of folded black linen. Sadie helped me unwrap it, and inside was a new amulet—one that looked like a column or a tree trunk or...

"Is that a spine?" Sadie demanded.

"It is called a djed," Dad said. "My symbol—the spine of Osiris."

"Yuck," Sadie muttered.

Mom laughed. "It is a bit yuck, but honestly, it's a powerful symbol. Stands for stability, strength—"

"Backbone?" I asked.

"Literally." Mom gave me an approving look, and again I had that surreal shifting feeling. I couldn't believe I was standing here, having a chat with my somewhat dead parents.

Mom closed the amulet into my hands. Her touch was warm, like a living person's. "Djed also stands for the power of Osiris—renewed life from the ashes of death. This is exactly what you will need if you are to stir the blood of the pharaohs in others and rebuild the House of Life."

"The House won't like that," Sadie put in.

"No," Mom said cheerfully. "They certainly won't."

The Hall of Judgment rumbled again.

"It is time," Dad said. "We'll meet again, children. But until then, take care."

"Be mindful of your enemies," Mom added.

"And tell Amos..." Dad's voice trailed off thoughtfully. "Remind my brother that Egyptians believe in the power of the sunrise. They believe each morning begins not just a new day, but a new world."

Before I could figure out what that meant, the Hall of Judgment faded, and we stood with Anubis in a field of darkness.

"I'll show you the way," Anubis said. "It is my job."

He ushered us to a space in the darkness that looked no different from any other. But when he pushed with his hand, a door swung open. The entrance blazed with daylight.

Aria grinned and fist bumped him. Then stepped through the open door.

Anubis bowed formally to me. Then he looked at Sadie with a glint of mischief in his eyes. "It's been...stimulating."

Sadie flushed and pointed at him accusingly. "We're not done, mister. I expect you to look after my parents. And next time I'm in the Land of the Dead, you and I will have words."

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "I'll look forward to that."

We stepped through the doorway and into the palace of the gods.

It looked just like Sadie had described from her visions: soaring stone columns, fiery braziers, a polished marble floor, and in the middle of the room, a gold-and-red throne. All around us, gods had gathered. Many were just flashes of light and fire. Some were shadowy images that shifted from animal to human. I recognized a few: Thoth flickered into view as a wild-haired guy in a lab coat before turning into a cloud of green gas; Hathor, the cow-headed goddess, gave me a puzzled look, as if she vaguely recognized me from the Magic Salsa incident. I looked for Bast, but my heart fell. She didn't seem to be in the crowd. In fact, most of the gods I didn't recognize.

"What have we started?" Sadie murmured.

I understood what she meant. The throne room was full of hundreds of gods, major and minor, all darting through the palace, forming new shapes, glowing with power. An entire supernatural army...and they all seemed to be staring at us.

Thankfully, two old friends stood next to the throne. Horus wore full battle armor and a khopesh sword at his side. His kohl-lined eyes—one gold, one silver—were as piercing as ever. At his side stood Isis in a shimmering white gown, with wings of light.

"Welcome," Horus said.

"Um, hi," I said.

"He has a way with words," Isis muttered, which made Sadie snort.

Horus gestured to the throne. "I know your thoughts, Carter, so I think I know what you will say. But I have to ask you one more time. Will you join me? We could rule the earth and the heavens. Ma'at demands a leader."

"Yeah, so I've heard."

"I would be stronger with you as my host. You've only touched the surface of what combat magic can do. We could accomplish great things, and it is your destiny to lead the House of Life. You could be the king of two thrones."

I glanced at Sadie, but she just shrugged. "Don't look at me. I find the idea horrifying."

Horus scowled at her, but the truth was, I agreed with Sadie. All those gods waiting for direction, all those magicians who hated us—the idea of trying to lead them made my knees turn to water.

"Maybe some day," I said. "Much later."

Horus sighed. "Five thousand years, and I still do not understand mortals. But—very well."

He stepped up to the throne and looked around at the assembled gods.

That was when I noticed something.

"Hey." I whispered to Sadie, "Where's Aria?"

She snorted. "She that girl over there talking to that god, she's got brown hair? That's her."

I turned, ignoring all other conversation, and found that Sadie was right. Aria stood off to the side conversing with a woman.

She seemed to be having an argument. She opened her mouth, said something, and the woman cut her off. Aria's arms fell to her sides and her head hung. She gave the woman a curt nod and walked toward us.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"Hush." She said placing her finger over my lips. "Horus is speaking."

...

So main idea; Horus became king, The gods told us we'd receive a gift and we went home.

The next day, we got the gods' gift.

We woke to find that the mansion had been completely repaired down to the smallest detail. Everything we hadn't finished yet—probably another month's worth of work—was done.

The first thing I found were new clothes in my closet, and after a moment's hesitation, I put them on. I went downstairs and found Khufu and Sadie dancing around the restored Great Room. Khufu had a new Lakers jersey and a brand-new basketball. The magical brooms and mops were busy doing their cleaning routine. Sadie looked up at me and grinned—and then her expression changed to shock.

"Carter, what—what are you wearing?"

I came down the stairs, feeling even more self-conscious. The closet had offered me several choices this morning, not just my linen robes. My old clothes had been there, freshly cleaned—a button-down shirt, starched khaki slacks, loafers. But there had also been a third choice, and I'd taken it: some Reeboks, blue jeans, a T-shirt, and a hoodie.

"It's, um, all cotton," I said. "Okay for magic. Dad would probably think I look like a gangster..."

I thought for sure Sadie would tease me about that, and I was trying to beat her to the punch. She scrutinized every detail of my outfit.

Then she laughed with absolute delight. "It's brilliant, Carter. You look almost like a regular teenager! And Dad would think..." She pulled my hoodie over my head. "Dad would think you look like an impeccable magician, because that's what you are. Now, come on. Breakfast is waiting on the patio."

Aria stood on the patio as well, she smiled when she saw me, then went back to her small breakfast of a blueberry muffin. She was dressed casually, jean shorts, an orange T-shirt and an army green denim jacket.

We were just digging in when Amos came outside, and his change of clothes was even more surprising than mine. He wore a crisp new chocolate-colored suit with matching coat and fedora. His shoes were shined, his round glasses polished, his hair freshly braided with amber beads. Sadie and I both stared at him.

"What?" he demanded.

"Nothing," we said in unison. Sadie looked at me and mouthed O-M-G, then went back to her bangers and eggs. I attacked my pancakes. Philip thrashed around happily in his swimming pool.

Amos joined us at the table. He flicked his fingers and coffee magically filled his cup. I raised my eyebrows. He hadn't used magic since the Demon Days.

"I thought I'd go away for a while," he announced. "To the First Nome."

Sadie and I exchanged glances.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked.

Amos sipped his coffee. He stared across the East River as if he could see all the way to Washington, D.C. "They have the best magic healers there. They will not turn away a petitioner seeking aid—even me. I think...I think I should try."

His voice was fragile, like it would crack apart any moment. But still, it was the most he'd said in weeks.

"I think that's brilliant," Sadie offered. "We'll watch after the place, won't we, Carter?"

"Yeah," I said. "Absolutely."

"I may be gone for a while," Amos said. "Treat this as your home. It is your home." He hesitated, as if choosing his next words carefully. "And I think, perhaps, you should start recruiting. There are many children around the world with the blood of the pharaohs. Most do not know what they are. What you two said in Washington—about rediscovering the path of the gods—it may be our only chance."

Sadie got up and kissed Amos on the forehead. "Leave it to us, Uncle. I've got a plan."

"That," I said, "sounds like very bad news."

Amos managed a smile. He squeezed Sadie's hand, then got up and ruffled my hair as he headed inside.

Aria glanced over her shoulder at the skyline. "Carter, Sadie. I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" Sadie asked.

Aria laughed her musical laugh that lightened everyone's mood. "Right to the point huh? Well, you remember yesterday when I was talking to that goddess..."

"Yeah," Sadie said, "So?"

"Well, she told me some things I'd rather not hear."

"Oh."

"A friend of mine needs help, well more like a camp of friends. I should be back by Autumn." She said the last part cheerfully. "At the latest."

"Oh." Sadie said. Suddenly intent on staring at her eggs.

I felt the same way, like we were losing someone all over again. Then a sudden idea hit me. I pulled a piece of paper from my pocket and wrote down the Brooklyn House's phone number.

I handed it to Aria. "Promise to call if you need help."

She smiled. "I swear to the river Styx that I will call if I need help."

I had no idea what that meant, but thunder boomed and seemed to seal our deal.

"Well." She said cheerfully. "I guess I'm off. Bye Ya-Guys!"

She hugged both of us and stepped towards the door. "I promise I'll come back here before Desjardins stirs up any trouble, deal?"

Sadie grinned and gave her a thumbs up. "Got it!"

She smiled and hoisted a backpack off a chair and over her shoulder. Then she left.

I sat down and thought for a minute. Then shook my head.

I took another bite of my pancakes and wondered why—on such a great morning—I still felt sad, and a little incomplete. I suppose with so many things suddenly getting better, the things that were still missing hurt even worse.

Sadie picked at her scrambled eggs. "I suppose it would be selfish to ask for more."

I stared at her, and I realized we were thinking the same thing. When the gods had said a gift...Well, you can hope for things, but as Sadie said, I guess you can't get greedy.

"It's going to be hard to travel if we need to go recruiting," I said cautiously. "Two unaccompanied minors."

Sadie nodded. "No Amos. No responsible adult. I don't think Khufu counts."

And that's when the gods completed their gift.

A voice from the doorway said, "Sounds like you have a job opening."

I turned and felt a thousand pounds of grief drop from my shoulders. Leaning against the door in a leopard-spotted jumpsuit was a dark-haired lady with golden eyes and two very large knives.

"Bast!" Sadie cried.

The cat goddess gave us a playful smile, as if she had all kinds of trouble in mind. "Someone call for a chaperone?"

 **Well There it is! Aria Kane and the Red Pyramid is officially complete. The next one should be out soon, Well see you later!**


End file.
